This is the most important painting by Lerolle, a friend and collector of such artists as Degas, Denis, and Vuillard. Set in the choir loft of the church of Saint-François-Xavier in Paris, it features members of Lerolle’s intimate circle, including his wife (bare-headed) and her sisters, in fashionable matching hats; his brother-in-law, composer Ernest Chausson, plays the organ. The painter himself gazes outward at left. Shown at the Salon of 1885, this picture triumphed the next year in New York, in the first major Impressionism exhibition in America. One critic recalled, "spectators … spoke low before it, as if waiting for … the voice of the singer to be heard."
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Title:The Organ Rehearsal
Artist:Henry Lerolle (French, Paris 1848–1929 Paris)
Date:1885
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:93 1/4 x 142 3/4 in. (236.9 x 362.6 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Gift of George I. Seney, 1887
Accession Number:87.8.12
Inscription: Signed (lower right): h.Lerolle
the artist, Paris (until 1886; sold to Durand-Ruel for Fr 10,000, including Fr 7,500 in cash and several works by Degas in trade [see Notes for additional details]); [Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1886]; George I. Seney, New York (1886–87)
Paris. Salon. May 1–June 30, 1885, no. 1563 (as "A l'orgue").
New York. American Art Association. "Works in Oil and Pastel by the Impressionists of Paris," April 10–28, 1886, no. 29 (as "The Organ").
New York. National Academy of Design. "Works in Oil and Pastel by the Impressionists of Paris," May 25–June 30, 1886, no. 29 (as "The Organ").
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Loan Collection of Paintings and Sculpture," November 1886–April 1887, no. 137 (as "The Organ").
Georges Lafenestre, ed. Le Livre d'or du Salon de peinture et de sculpture. Paris, 1885, p. 46, ill. between pp. 46 and 47, erroneously lists it as no. 1553 in the Salon of 1885.
Louis Enault. Paris-Salon 1885. Paris, 1885, pp. 69–70, ill. between pp. 68 and 69, praises this picture for its "quelque chose d'intime, de réel, de vécu, qui ne sent ni la pose ni l'atelier; mais la nature même, prise et surprise chez elle, par le plus sincère des artistes" (something intimate, real, lived, that does not feel at all posed or of the studio; but nature itself, captured and surprised at home, by the most sincere of artists).
Henry Lerolle. Manuscript. n.d., unpaginated? [original in Lerolle family archives], calls the picture "A l'Orgue"; recalls that he probably thought of the subject while walking in the street and that he had made a few vague studies for it before finding the church of St. François Xavier as the location; notes that Puvis de Chavannes admired the painting; states that the central singer was painted after the soprano Marie Escudier; notes that, despite its success at the Salon, he could not find a buyer for the painting except for the dealer Bulla [Maison Bulla Frères et Jouy], who only offered to buy it if Lerolle would cut off part of the picture; recalls that Durand-Ruel then offered to buy it for 10,000 francs for an interested buyer in the United States; states that he took his payment "en Degas" [works by Degas], specifically "la femme au tub, la femme qui se roule par terre, les 2 pastels de danseuses, la modiste, Colombine et Arlequin, et la femme malade (peinture)" [see Notes].
André Michel. "Le Salon de 1885 (2e article)." Gazette des beaux-arts, 2nd ser., 31 (June 1885), p. 495, calls it sadly incomplete and stark; reproduces a drawing by Lerolle of the singer in this picture (p. 489).
"Paintings for Amateurs." New York Times (April 10, 1886), p. 5.
Mrs. Schuyler van Rensselaer. "The French Impressionists." Independent 38 (April 22, 1886), pp. 7–8.
"A Late Art Exhibition." World 26 (May 25, 1886), p. 8, as "Organ Loft".
Luther Hamilton. "The Work of the Paris Impressionists in New York." Cosmopolitan (June 1886), p. 240, calls it "The Organist": states that the acquisition of this picture would provide a "revolutionizing lift" to the MMA.
Paul Durand-Ruel. Letter to Henry Lerolle. July 26, 1886 [original in Lerolle family archives], states that, as Lerolle had agreed with Durand-Ruel's son, payment for the picture would consist of 7,500 francs in cash and one or several paintings that Lerolle would choose to compose the other 2,500 francs (for a total of 10,000 francs).
"The Metropolitan Museum: The Fourteenth Semi-Annual Exhibition." Evening Post (November 6, 1886), p. ?, calls it "The Organ Loft" and notes that the owner of this picture "is unknown to the curator of the Museum, and there is some curiosity as to who owns this really fine painting".
"Fine Paintings on Exhibition." Mail and Express (November 6, 1886), p. ?.
"Loan Collection: Paintings and Sculptures at The Metropolitan Museum of Art." New York Times (November 7, 1886), p. 9, erroneously refers to the artist as Rolle.
"Fine Art Exhibition: Some of the Masterpieces to Be Seen in the Metropolitan Museum." New York Star (November 8, 1886), p. ?, as "The Organ Loft".
"The Loan Collection: Today's Display at The Metropolitan Museum." New York Advertiser (November 8, 1886), p. ?, as "The Organ".
"The Fine Arts: The Loan Collection at the Metropolitan Museum, New York." Philadelphia Telegraph (November 8, 1886), p. ?, as "The Organ"; comments that "we know that [the singer] is moving her unseen auditors by the rapt expression of the few people who cluster about the organist and who are listening with all possible intentness".
"Metropolitan Museum: Opening Reception—The Loan Collections and Recent Acquisitions." New York Herald (November 9, 1886), p. ?, calls it "At the Organ" and states that its ownership, while unknown, is attributed to Erwin Davis.
Town Topics (November 11, 1886), p. ?, as "The Organ Gallery".
C. M. S. "Gallery and Studio: Loan Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art." Brooklyn Eagle (November 28, 1886), p. 2, comments that "people who pass before it seem to be not only looking, but listening".
"Nos gravures. À l'orgue." L'illustration 88 (December 25, 1886), p. 448, ill. pp. 438–39 (wood engraving by Léon Rousseau).
C. M. S. "Gallery and Studio." Brooklyn Eagle (March 27, 1887), p. 2, remarks that when this picture was shown at the Impressionist exhibition [Exh. New York 1886] "spectators often spoke low before it, as if waiting for the organ to play and the voice of the singer to be heard".
"The Fine Arts: Recent Gifts to the Metropolitan Museum." Critic (April 16, 1887), pp. 193–94.
Mrs. Schuyler van Rensselaer. "Fine Arts: Gifts to the Metropolitan Museum." Independent 39 (April 21, 1887), p. 6.
M[ariana]. G[riswold]. van Rensselaer. "Pictures of the Season in New York. III." American Architect and Building News 21 (April 23, 1887), p. 195.
Montezuma [Montague Marks]. "My Note Book." Art Amateur 16 (May 1887), p. 122.
"The New Pictures at The Metropolitan Museum." Harper's Weekly (May 14, 1887), p. ?, calls it "The Organ Rehearsal".
Mariana Griswold Van Rensselaer. "The Wolfe Collection at the Metropolitan Museum. I." Independent 39 (November 17, 1887), p. 6, as "Organ Loft".
Mrs. Schuyler van Rensselaer. "The Wolfe Collection at the Metropolitan Museum. II." Independent 39 (November 24, 1887), p. 9.
Clarence Cook. Art and Artists of Our Time. New York, 1888, vol. 1, pp. 142–44, ill., calls it "In the Organ-Loft"; tentatively identifies the setting as the chapel of the Tuileries, the organist as Massenet, and the singer as Mme Massenet.
"The Metropolitan Museum of Art—The French Painters." New York Times (May 22, 1895), p. 4.
Arthur Hoeber. The Treasures of The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York. New York, 1899, p. 82.
"Organ and Choir." Etude 18 (July 1900), p. 262, ill. (engraving), as "In the Organ Loft"; interprets it as an audition for choir singers.
D[aniel]. Cady Eaton. A Handbook of Modern French Painting. New York, 1909, p. 319, fig. 224, calls it "The Organ" and admires the "apprehended stillness of the unseen congregation".
Maurice Denis. Henry Lerolle et ses amis. [Paris], 1932, pp. 14–15, fig. 8.
Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 60.
Charles Sterling and Margaretta M. Salinger. French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 2, XIX Century. New York, 1966, pp. 210–11, ill., call it "A Rehearsal in the Choir Loft"; note the influence of Degas and Seurat in the composition and quality of light; mention a drawing of the singer; note that the artist's son identified Mme Lerolle standing behind the organist, the artist, second from the left, and Mlle Lerolle in the right foreground.
Lois Dinnerstein. "Beyond Revisionism: Henry Lerolle's 'The Organ'." Arts Magazine 54 (January 1980), pp. 172–76, figs. 1–3, 7 (overall and details), identifies the setting as Lerolle's parish church of St. François-Xavier, adding that it "is both a genre scene and a family portrait, for among the figures gathered about the organ are members of the artist's most intimate circle"; identifies the artist's wife, Madeline Escudier Lerolle, seated with sheet music in her lap; her sister, Marie, as the singer; their sister, Jeanne, seated on the left; Jeanne's husband, Ernest Chausson, playing the organ; the artist's mother standing beside the organist; the sculptor Alfred Lenoir standing third from left; and Lerolle himself glancing out of the picture; relates the irregularity of the composition to Degas and Renoir.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 489, ill.
John Leighton and Richard Thomson. Seurat and the Bathers. Exh. cat., National Gallery. London, 1997, pp. 98–99, 105 n. 9, pl. 115, comment on stylistic similarities with contemporary paintings by Seurat, suggesting that it is as if both artists "independently agreed that the modern had to be subjected to a style, to a legible order which would be the proof of the artist's transformation of nature, his obedience to the idealism of his training and his ability to give pictorial cohesion to the confusion of contemporary experience".
Agnes Armstrong. "'A l'orgue' d'Henry Lerolle: Le tableau et ses sujets." La Flûte harmonique no. 79/80 (2000), pp. 19–35, ill. p. 20 and cover (detail), suggests that the man on the far left, standing behind Lerolle, is the composer Claude Debussy, a close friend of the artist; notes that the standing man on the right, identified by Dinnerstein [Ref. 1980] as Lenoir, could alternatively be Maurice Bouchor or Paul Poujaud, both also members of Lerolle's intimate circle; mentions that Chausson, the organist in this picture, composed at least two works for a female soloist accompanied by the organ.
John Collins in Ann Dumas and John Collins. Renoir's Women. Exh. cat., Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio. London, 2005, p. 95, asserts that Lerolle promoted Chausson's music in this picture.
Emmanuelle Amiot-Saulnier. "Henry Lerolle (1848–1929), peintre naturaliste et chrétien." Histoire de l'art no. 58 (April 2006), pp. 85, 88, 91 nn. 19–21, fig. 2, calls it "À l'orgue" and dates it 1885; suggests that it depicts the nave of the church of Saint-Gervais; notes that Lerolle approved of the program of religious music established by the "maître" of that chapel, M. Bordes, adding that the Chanteurs de Saint-Gervais played an essential role in the music of the period.
Allison Morehead in Martha Ward and Anne Leonard. Looking and Listening in Nineteenth-Century France. Exh. cat., Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago. Chicago, 2007, p. 73, fig. 65, notes that the composition recalls the work of Puvis de Chavannes and Degas, particularly in its use of large areas of empty space.
Isabelle Duvernois. "A Technical Study of Henry Lerolle's 'Organ Rehearsal'." Metropolitan Museum Journal 45 (2010), pp. 217–24, figs. 1 (color), 4, 10 (color details), 5, 7, 8, 9 (infrared reflectograms), 6 (diagram).
Helen Burnham inImpressionism, Fashion, & Modernity. Ed. Gloria Groom. Exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Chicago, 2012, pp. 260–61, 265, 323 nn. 34, 36, 42 [French ed., "L'Impressionnisme et la Mode," Paris, p. 284], observes that, while Duvernois 2010 notes the impropriety of a hatless woman in church, contemporary critics made no comment to this effect; discusses the dress worn by the central figure in relation to fashion plates of the period.
19th Century European Art. Christie's, New York. April 25, 2016, p. 37, under no. 35.
A reduced version of this picture was sold at Christie's, New York, November 2, 1995, lot 176. There is also a drawing of the singer (see Michel 1885) and an engraving after the composition (see Illustration 1886, Etude 1900). Denis (1932) reproduces another painting of the singer.
Durand-Ruel compensated Lerolle for the painting partly in cash and partly with works by Edgar Degas (see Provenance). The Degases listed by Lerolle (see References) can be identified with the following six pastels and one oil painting (catalogue raisonné numbers are taken from Lemoisne 1946–49): la femme au tub (Tate, London, L738); la femme qui se roule par terre (Musée d’Orsay, Paris, L854); 2 pastels de danseuses (Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, L486; and The Met 1976.201.7, L735); la modiste (Musée d'Orsay, L683); Colombine et Arlequin (possibly Belvedere, Vienna, L771, or L1033); la femme malade (peinture) (Getty Museum, Los Angeles, L314). See memo of 12/3/18 in departmental files for more information.
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