The French Symbolist Gustave Moreau’s series of 64 illustrations for La Fontaine’s Fables, rendered in his distinctive jewel-like tones, were much praised when exhibited in the 1880s – one critic suggested that Moreau was ‘drunk on colour’. Nearly half were lost from a Rothschild collection during the Nazi era but the remainder, on loan from a private collection, will go on public display in this exhibition at Waddesdon Manor for the first time since 1906. The show runs from 16 June–17 October; find out more from Waddesdon Manor’s website.
Preview below | View Apollo’s Art Diary here
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Democritus and the Abderites (1881), Gustave Moreau. Private collection
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The cat transformed into a woman (1884), Gustave Moreau. Private collection
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The cobbler and the financier (1882), Gustave Moreau. Private collection

The dream of an inhabitant of Mongolia (1881), Gustave Moreau. Private collection
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Allegory of fable (1879), Gustave Moreau. Private collection
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