La Circassienne au Bain, also known as Une Baigneuse, was a large Neoclassical oil painting from 1814 by Merry-Joseph Blondel depicting a life-sized young naked Circassian woman bathing in an idealized setting from classical antiquity. The painting was destroyed with the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912. When financial compensation claims were filed with US commissioner Gilchrist in January 1913, the painting gained notoriety as the subject of the largest claim made against the White Star Line for the loss of a single item of baggage or cargo.[1]
The painting was first exhibited at the Paris Salon, at the Louvre museum in November 1814.[2] The initial critical reaction to the painting was muted, with positive descriptions restricted to praising the painting's overall competence and Blondel's attention to detail.[3] Apart from technical misgivings about the twist of the upper body and the absence of 'grace' in the figure of the young woman, the chief concern of the critics seems to have been that, despite its large scale, it was not as exciting a painting as some of Blondel’s previous works.[4] However, by 1823, critics began talking more enthusiastically about the painting, apparently influenced both by the favourable popular reception to printed reproductions of the painting and by Blondel’s improving career status.[5]
In January 1913, a claim was filed in New York against the White Star Line, by Titanic survivor Mauritz Håkan Björnström-Steffansson, for financial compensation resulting from the loss of the painting. The amount of the claim was $100,000 (equivalent to $3 million in 2022), making it by far the most highly valued single item of luggage or cargo lost as a result of the sinking.[1] Bjornstrom-Steffansson did not receive the compensation he asked; all the cases against White Star were settled for a combined amount of $644,000.[6]
El formulario de reclamación de Steffansson describía una pintura sustancial de "8 x 4 pies" de tamaño, pero no especificaba si se refería al tamaño del lienzo pintado, al lienzo más el marco o al tamaño de la caja. [7] Este formato no se ajusta a las convenciones de tamaño estándar para retratos de cuerpo entero, formalizadas durante el siglo XIX. Tampoco coincide con la relación de formato de ningún retrato de cuerpo entero conocido de Blondel. Los retratos femeninos de pie de tamaño natural y de cuerpo entero existentes, realizados por Blondel, en el dominio público, se ajustan al lienzo de tamaño estándar francés F120 ( figura 120 ) (195 cm × 130 cm (6 pies 5 pulgadas × 4 pies 3 pulgadas)), dentro de un margen de más o menos 10 cm (4 pulgadas).
Medios relacionados con La Circassienne au Bain en Wikimedia Commons