Reappearance of a Sketch for the Panthéon by Baron Gros
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Missing since the post-mortem sale of the French neoclassical and pre-Romantic painter, this sketch for the dome of the Panthéon—under which Victor Hugo and Jean Moulin lie buried—is up for sale with a new Montpellier auction house. Antoine-Jean Gros, known as Baron Gros (1771-1835), Charlemagne and Hildegarde, sketch for the dome of the Pantheon, 128.5 x 128 cm/50.59 x 50.39 in. Estimate: €80,000/120,000 The Panthéon’s dome is a thorny subject in art history, as it was little understood and roundly reviled. Many remember the dry comment of Théophile Gautier, who considered “Baron Gros’s dome more of a circular history painting with a ceiling
