Roland à Ronceveaux

The legend of Roland at Roncevaux — the Frankish paladin's heroic last stand against the Saracen rear-guard in the Pyrenean pass in 778 AD, immortalised in the 'Chanson de Roland' — attracted Redon's imagination in this 1862 painting, one of his very earliest known oil works. Painted when Redon was just twenty-two, 'Roland à Roncevaux' reveals his early engagement with medieval literary subjects that was widespread in mid-century French Romantic art. The 'Chanson de Roland' experienced a major cultural revival in France during the mid-nineteenth century, serving as a national epic and an emblem of sacrifice and military honour. This early canvas shows Redon working within the dominant Romantic tradition of literary history painting before he developed the singular visionary mode for which he became celebrated. The Musée d'Orsay's holding of this early work is valuable for tracing his development from Romantic historicism to Symbolist imagination.

Oil paint on panel or canvas using the academic Romantic technique appropriate to this early period, well before Redon's mature colour and symbolic methods. The dramatic night or dusk setting of the Roncevaux legend would have required careful management of artificial torchlight or twilight effects. The handling is relatively conventional for a student work of the period.