Henri Martin, a celebrated landscape painter, is known for his Symbolist compositions and for his mural decorations in prestigious sites, notably the Sorbonne, the Élysée, and the Capitole. After studying at the École des Beaux-Arts in Toulouse and Paris, he embraced the academic style of Jean-Paul Laurens, and started exhibiting at the Salon from 1880. However, by the mid-1880s, influenced by a trip to Italy, he developed a personal Neo-Impressionist style which enabled him to integrate his classical technique with Symbolist elements. From 1892 to 1897, he participated in the Salons of the Rose-Croix.
In 1892, Martin won the commission to decorate the south vestibule of the Hôtel de Ville in Paris with a theme centred on the inspiring and consoling muses. His compatriot, Henri Bonis, decorated the north vestibule with a focus on the complementary theme of science. Assisted by Louis Bigaux, Martin designed a complex decorative scheme featuring the allegories of Painting and Literature, Music and Sculpture, and Lyricism and Harmony (fig. 1).
Our preparatory study depicts Apollo surrounded by the Muses. The figure of the Greek god rendered in delicate, nervous brushstrokes, imparts an ethereal, airy quality to the composition. The softly sketched figure of Apollo, which reveals Henri Martin’s early academic training, is painted with vibrant dashes and dots of different nuances of pink, green and yellow that perfectly convey the grace and elegance of the deity as he reclines confidently on the clouds above. This preparatory study prefigures the refined decorative style that would later become characteristic of Martin’s renowned panels.