Chloé (painting)
| Chloé | |
|---|---|
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| Artist | Jules Joseph Lefebvre |
| Year | 1875 |
| Type | Canvas |
| Medium | Oil |
| Dimensions | 260 cm × 139 cm (100 in × 55 in) |
| Location | Young and Jackson Hotel, Melbourne |
Chloé is a 260 by 139 cm oil canvas painting of a young Parisian girl by French figure painter Jules Joseph Lefebvre, made in 1875. The painting is located in the upstairs bar of the Young and Jackson Hotel in Melbourne, Australia, where it has been since 1909. She is known as the "Melbourne Icon" and is the mascot of HMAS Melbourne.
Chloé made its first debut in the Paris Salon in 1875 with great success. With that success, it and Lefebvre won the Gold Medal of Honour in 1872. It was subsequently displayed in art exhibitions such as the French Gallery at the Sydney International Exhibition in 1879 and the Melbourne International Exhibition in 1880.
Chloé was then purchased by Dr. Thomas Fitzgerald of Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, for 850 guineas. Controversy arose when the painting was to be exhibited on Sundays. The Presbyterian Assembly found the painting to be too scandalous to show on Sundays, so it had to eventually be taken down from galleries. Upon Fitzgerald's death in 1908, the painting was auctioned off to Norman Figsby Young. Henry Young and Thomas Jackson bought Chloé in 1908 from Norman Figsby Young and placed the painting in the bar of their hotel.
Chloé captivated the love of many soldiers during World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, who frequented the bar before they left for battle. Thousands of soldiers would go to the Young and Jacksons Hotel to drink and to see her for company. Letters were even addressed to her from the trench wars of Turkey, France, and Papua New Guinea, promising to return to her. American soldiers went as far as coming up with a plan to abduct her.
On Friday, 24 September 2004, at 8:30 pm, a patron from the pub fell against the painting and caused long vertical cracks on the 5-millimetre (0.20 in) thick protective glass. Art experts said the damage was minor and would not affect the overall value of the painting. The painting was repaired at the Ian Potter Conservation Centre in the Ian Potter Museum of Art in Melbourne, where it waited for German glass to be imported as a new protectant. The painting was finally restored and put back in the Young and Jackson Hotel on 13 October 2004.
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Wikipedia