Aimé Morot

Overview

Aimé-Nicolas Morot (1850–1913) was a French academic painter, pupil of Cabanel, who won the Prix de Rome in 1873. He is best known for his monumental canvas Le Bon Samaritain (The Good Samaritan, 1880, oil, 268 × 198 cm), exhibited at the Salon of 1880 where it was awarded the Medal of Honour — the highest Salon prize, defeating Bastien-Lepage's Joan of Arc for the top award. The painting is now housed in the Petit Palais, Paris. His style blended Spanish 17th-century realism (Velázquez, Ribera) with French academic technique.

Relevance to Marie

Marie was deeply moved by Le Bon Samaritain at the Salon of 1880. She wrote on 5 May: "Le bon Samaritain de Morot est un morceau de peinture épatante. Le job de Bonnat qui est large, dessiné et bien peint paraît une mièvrerie après le Morot." (Morot's Good Samaritan is a stunning piece of painting. Bonnat's Job — broad, well-drawn, and well-painted — looks like mere prettiness after the Morot.) On 16 May she returned alone to study it with opera glasses: "c'est le tableau qui m'a fait le plus complètement plaisir depuis que j'existe." (It is the painting that has given me the most complete pleasure since I have existed.)

References in Diary

• 1880-05-05: Morot's Good Samaritan at the Salon; compared unfavourably to Bonnat's Job.
• 1880-05-16: Marie studies the Good Samaritan alone with opera glasses; her highest praise for any painting.

Sources

Wikipedia: Aimé Morot; Wikipedia: The Good Samaritan (Morot))