Wladyslaw Jahl (1886-1953), Valley of the Wolves, 1933
Oil on canvas
81.5 x 116 cm / 63 x 98 cm
Unsigned, title and date on the back.
Small losses to the frame.
The painting comes from the artist's atelier.
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The painting depicts the famous "Valley of the Wolves," a domain purchased in 1807 by writer François de Chateaubriand, who wrote many of his works at the palace. In 1816. Chateaubriand got into serious financial trouble, which forced him first to rent the estate and a year later to sell it - it then passed into the hands of the de La Rochefoucauld family and remained in them for almost a century more. In 1914 it was acquired by Henry Le Savoureux, a doctor "alienist" (this term was used at the beginning of the century to describe doctors who specialized in mental illness), who established a sanatorium on the estate. In 1929, Dr. Le Savoureux founded the Chateaubriand Association, which still has its headquarters at the estate. Together with his wife, Sophie Lydie Plekhanov - daughter of a Russian and Soviet publicist, philosopher, revolutionary, one of Lenin's "poputches" - he received artists and writers at the estate. Among them, due to Sophie's background, were also many artists from Eastern Europe, temporarily or permanently residing in France, including Marc Chagall, Natalia Goncharova, Mikhail Larionov and, most likely, precisely Vladislav Jahl, which suggests not only the fact that he turned in the right artistic circles, but also the subject of the painting on display: the "Valley of Wolves" park, surrounding the estate, appeared in the works of many artists hosted by Mr. and Mrs. Le Savoureux.
