Derek Johns Old Master Paintings

Transcription

Derek Johns
Old Master Paintings
Derek Johns
Old Master Paintings
Derek Johns Ltd deals in all European schools of
painting, predominantly Italian and Spanish. It
has been almost twenty years since I organised an
exhibition devoted solely to French paintings, which at
the time I held in Tokyo. I am proud to present this
catalogue with a variety of works that encapsulate the
richness of the French golden age to coincide with our
exhibition “Old Master Paintings and Sculpture”. The
selection comprises fine examples of portraiture, stilllives, mythological scenes, landscapes and rococo fêtes
galantes by some of the most renowned French artists,
spanning from the 17th to the 19th centuries.
There couldn’t be a more perfect setting to exhibit
these high-quality French paintings than in the elegant
Parisian building of my dear friend Elizabeth Royer
in place du Palais Bourbon. Alongside our paintings
Tomasso Brothers will be exhibiting a selection of
important European sculptures.
We hope you enjoy our exhibition.
I would like to thank the following people for their
invaluable help and advice in the preparation of
this catalogue: Ellida Minelli, James Robinson, Ian
Thompson, Dino & Raffaello Tomasso, Burcu Yüksel.
Contents
Contents
Nicolas Bertin
Antoine de Favray
Jean-Baptiste Greuze
Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg
Moses defending the daughters of Jethro
Portrait of Emmanuel, Prince de Rohan, Grand
Master of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem,
of Rhodes and of Malta, the Bishop of Malta, the
Grand Prior of Saint John’s Church, the Grand
Marshall and Chaplain of the Order, pages of
honour and the Chaplain’s assistant; and Portrait
of ladies of the Knights of Malta with their
maidservant
Les Petits Orphelins
View of St Briavels Castle, Gloucestershire
Louis Jean Francois Lagrenée
Pierre Mignard
Bellona Calling Mars to War by Handing
over the Reins to Her Chariot
Portrait of a Lady, half length in a blue dress with
a gold shawl said to be Mademoiselle Vertue Lamer
François Boucher
Jean-Baptiste Pater
Portrait d’Alexandrine-Jeanne Lenormant
D’Etiolles, Fille de la Marquise de Pompadour
Le Lever de l’Aurore
Halte de Chasse
Nicolas Lancret
Jean-Baptiste Pillement
Le Concert Pastoral
Chinoiserie, a couple on a boat departing
from a shore where a child stands
Nicolas Henry Jeaurat de Bertry
An Artist’s palette with brushes, a mahl stick,
a knife, papers and a portfolio.
Sebastien Bourdon
Moses and the Daughters of Jethro
Jean - Honoré Fragonard
Young Washerwomen
Jean-Honoré Fragonard
Three Putti crowned with flowers amongst clouds
Claude Lefèbvre
Alexandre Calame
View of Valley with Animals, possibly showing
the death of the artist Charles Gough
After Luca Giordano
A sketch for Christ driving the
Moneychangers from the Temple
Pierre-Paul Prud’hon
Apollo and the Muses on Mount Parnassus
Robert Lefevre
Louise Aimee Ribot
Portrait of Madame Joseph Cornudet-Desprez
and of her daughter
Still Life with Bread, Bowls and a Bottle of Wine
The Sleep of Endymion
Claude Lorrain
Hubert Robert
Capriccio with a Dove Seller
A Pastoral Landscape with a dancing dog: Warm
sunset atmosphere (thus mentioned in the sale
catalogue of 1784). The low sun from the left. An
aqueduct in the distance. The sun from the left
suggest cool morning.
Jeanne-Elisabeth Chaudet A Young Girl in a White Dress with
a Green Sash kneeling by a Bird Cage
while tending to her Birds Portrait of Cardinal de Retz, Archbishop of Paris
Attributed to Anne-Louis Girodet
Self portrait
Nicolas Bertin
(Paris 1668 - 1736)
Moses defending the daughters of Jethro
Oil on panel
49 x 70.8 cm (19.2 x 27.8 in)
Provenance
Baron de Vanballe sale Paris, 9th April 1781, lot 80
(‘Ce tableau est d’une grande finesse et du meilleur faire de ce Maître’);
Williot sale Paris, 26th February 1788, lot 6;
Art market Paris and New York 1959;
Private Collection, UK
Exhibited
Possibly exhibited in the Paris Salon of 1704
Literature
Antoine Schapper, ‘Nouvelles acquisitions des musées de province. Musées de Saint-Étienne.
A propos d’un tableau de N. Bertin.’, La Revue du Louvre et des Musées de France, nos. 4-5, pp. 358, note 7.
Thierry Lefrançois, Nicolas Bertin 1668-1736, Neuilly-sur-Seine, 1981, cat. 4, p. 102.
We are grateful to Alastair Laing for confirming the attribution to Nicolas Bertin.
Nicolas Bertin was a pupil of Jean Jouvenet and Bon Boullogne
du Trianon. He also received commissions from the Elector Max
before studying at the Academy. In 1685, he won the first prize in
Emmanuel de Bavière and supplied a number of overdoors for
the Grand Prix which entitled him to go to Rome. Upon his return
Nymphenburg and Schleissheim.
to France in 1689, Nicolas found employment at Versailles thanks
to his brother Claude who was already working there as a sculptor.
Until 1701, the year when he received his first royal commission for
the Ménagerie, his oeuvre consisted mainly of small mythological
pictures in the manner of Boullogne. In 1703, he was elected to
the Royal Academy with his Hercules Releasing Prometheus (Musée
du Louvre, Paris) and was made professor in 1715. During this
period, he was commissioned by Louis XIV to decorate the Château
The subject of this picture is taken from the book of Exodus (II
16-22): Jethro’s daughters while drawing water at the well for their
father’s flock, are chased away by a group of Midianite shepherds.
The young Moses came to their rescue and in return Jethro gave him
his oldest daughter Zipporah for a wife. A smaller painting of the
N. Bertin, detail from Moses of the daughters of Jethro,
same subject by the artist is now at the Musée de l’Hotel Sandelin in
Oil on canvas, 37 x 52 cm
Saint Omer, France. (see fig. 1).
Musée de l’Hotel Sandelin, Saint-Omer, France
Nicolas Henry Jeaurat de Bertry
(Paris 1728 - c.1796)
An Artist’s palette with brushes, a mahl stick, a knife, papers and a portfolio.
Oil on canvas
45.7 x 55.5 cm (18 x 21.8 in)
Signed and dated ‘Jeaurat de bertri. pin. 1756’
Provenance
Private Collection, Normandy
Born in Paris to d’Edme Jeaurat, graveur du Roy, Nicolas Henri
At one time mislabeled Chardin or de la Porte, a few still-lifes in
Jeaurat de Bertry studied under his uncle, the painter Etienne Jeau-
the Réunion Musées Nationaux (Cambrai for example) have been
rat. Above all, the young artist excelled at still-life painting, where
recently reattributed to Jeaurat de Bertry, one even containing his
he managed to capture the objects of daily life, with a detail and
J.B. monogram. vitality reminiscent of the genre’s master, Chardin. It was with his
still-lifes that Jeaurat the younger established his reputation. He was
both nominated and accepted, by verbal agreement of the assembly,
for membership in the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture
on the same day, 31 January 1756. His submissions for acceptance
were two still lifes: one depicting kitchen implements (Paris, École
des Beaux-Arts, formerly Louvre) and the other military trophies
(Château de Fontainebleau.).
The present work, dating from the year of his acceptance, may well
have been painted as a homage to his own artistic skill by displaying
the instruments of his craft. The following year, the artist presented three works at the Salon of 1757. All still-lifes, they depicted a
group of musical instruments, an allegory of war, and one of science. Though the locations of the latter works are for the present
unknown, a painting today in the Musée Carnavalet, signed and
dated 1756, of musical instruments, would appear to be the first of
these three Salon paintings.
With recognition and a flourishing career, in 1761 the artist was
named painter to Marie Leczinska, and moved his residence from
Paris to Versailles. Henceforth Jeaurat de Bertry was able to sign
letters with the title peintre de la Reine, his job described as ‘pour
l’amusement de cette princesse dans l’art de la peinture’. Upon the
queen’s death in 1768, he returned to Paris and remained there for
all but a second four-year sojourn at court. During the French Revolution, Jeaurat concentrated on portraiture,
some of a veiled satirical nature, as well as allegorical constructions
that featured portraits, the tricolour, pyramids and the Masonic eye.
François Boucher
(Paris 1703 - 1770 Paris)
Portrait d’Alexandrine-Jeanne Lenormant D’Etiolles, Fille de la Marquise de Pompadour
Oil on canvas
53 x 45 cm (21 x 17 ¾ in)
Signed and dated on the Bird Cage: f.Boucher, 1749
Provenance
Collection of Mme de Pompadour, probably at Chateau de Marly 1or Crécy;
Collection Panisse;
Georges Mühlbacher;
His Sale, Galerie Georges Petit on May 15 - 18th 1899, n. 6 (Sold for 85000 FF);
Collection of M.H. Deutsch de la Meurthe;
Mme Raba Deutsch de la Meurthe;
Exhibited
Exposition des Portraits de Femmes et d’Enfants, Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris May 1897 n. 17;
Probably ‘Exposition de l’Enfance’, 1901, Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris;
La Fondation Foch, Paris. Exposition ‘Francois Boucher’ June 9th - July 10th 1932 at l’Hotel
Particulier de M. Jean Charpentier. Preface to Exhibition Catalogue by Pierre de Nolhac. Cat. Entry n. 95 p. 45;
Literature
Sale Catalogue Galerie Georges Petit. Georges Mühlbacher, his collection, 15 - 18th May 1899, n. 6.
Michel, A. Catalogue de l’Oeuvre de Boucher, page 58 Cat. Entry n. 1055. Soullie et Masson, Paris 1907.
Nolhac, Pierre de. Francois Boucher - Premier Peintre du Roi - Goupil & Manzi. Paris 1907, p. 170.
Kahn, Gustave. Les Grandes Artistes - Francois Boucher, pages 94 - 99. Illustrated page 116.
Laurens, Paris 1907.
Sterling, Charles & Nolhac, Pierre. Fondation Foch, Exhibition catalogue Francois Boucher. Paris June 1932.
Cordey, Jean. Inventaire des Biens de Madame de Pompadour (redige après son deces) p. 92. In footnote 8 in
relations to Entry n. 1252. Lefrancois, Paris 1939.
Salmon, Xavier & Hohenzollern, Johan Georg Prinz. Madame de Pompadour - l’Art et l’Amour (German Version)
Exhibition Catalogue from Madame de Pompadour et les Arts at Versaillles 2002. Cat. Entry n. 27. Abb. 1. Hirner
Verlag, Munich 2002.
Related Literature
Lenormant de Tournehem, on 9 March 1741.
Edmond et Jules de Goncourt: L’Art du XVIIIeme Siecle 3rd Edition, pp. 185-209. Paris 1875
Tournehem was the legal guardian of Jeanne-Antoinette, and took
Fig. 1 Louis-François
Sale Catalogue: A. Beurdeley, A Drawing of Portrait d’Alexandrine-Jeanne Lenormant D’Etiolles,
a caring and protective role regardless of the uncertainty of her
Aubert after François
Fille de la Marquise de Pompadour Listed in A.Michel cat. No 1100 (Beurdeley Sale 13-15th of March 1905)
fatherhood. He educated her and was a key person in introducing
Boucher
her to Parisian society. The marriage between Jeanne-Antoinette
Alexandrine Lenormant
We are grateful to Dr. Christoph Vogtherr, Director of the Wallace Collection who supports the attribution to
and Charles-Guillaume marked an important step up in her social
d’Etoilles, 1751
François Boucher upon first hand examination. Edgar Munhall, Curator Emeritus at the Frick Collection is also
position. In December 1741 she gave birth to a son. The baby died
Enamel on metal in a
favourable to the work based on a photo examination.
shortly afterwards but was followed in March 1744 by the birth
copper frame, 2.8 x 2.4 cm
of a daughter, Alexandrine. The child was named after Madame de
Musée Lambinet, Versailles
In the late 1740s François Boucher was engaged in numerous
Aubert, now at Musée Lambinet (fig. 1), Versailles, clearly derives
decoration projects both for Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour.
from the present picture where she is seen depicted in the same blue
In particular Boucher worked on Madame de Pompadour’s account
costume, on a yellow satin background.
at Crécy, a country house near Dreux in Normandy and Bellevue near
Meudon-sur-Seine. Enormous amount of energy and expenditure
went into furnishing and remodelling Crécy. Ornate panelling was
created by experts such as Verbreckt and Rousseau, and Boucher was
left in charge with decorating Mme de Pompadour’s octagonal study.
In a double portrait drawing of Madame de Pompadour and her
daughter Alexandrine by François Guérin now in the Crocker Art
Museum (see fig. 2), Alexandrine is depicted holding on her right
knee an open bird cage of similar shape and size, while in her left
hand she holds a bird on her index finger. The drawing is catalogued
Charmante fillette, assise devant une table, vue de face jusqu’à la
as having been executed in 1763, nine years after Alexandrine’s
ceinture, le visage souriant et la tète légèrement incline vers la droite.
death when she would have been 19. She appears to be presented as
Elle porte une robe de soie bleue, décolletée, ornée d’une rose au corsage
a significantly younger girl, and it is plausible to assume that Guérin,
et un ruban autour du cou, coquettement noué sous le menton; les
provided this was a commission made by Madame de Pompadour,
cheveux blonds boucles et tombant sur les épaules. C’est le repas de son
has used the present Boucher portrait as a model for the drawing.
petit préféré. Un chardonneret sort d’une cage qu’elle tient de la main
Also in the large double portrait by Guérin we find the same
gauche. Elle prend dans une écuelle la pâtée qu’elle offre à l’oiseau, avec
depiction, again with the bird cage.
une baguette de bois. Une tenture de satin jaune, formant le fond, est
drape sur la gauche. Ce tableau, exquis de grace et de spirituelle naïveté,
est une oeuvre unique où l’artiste a mis tout son talent pour satisfaire sa
puissante protectrice. Il est en parfait état de conservation.
Description from Muhlbacher Sale, May 1899.
is customary for women of rank, Alexandrine was put out to wetnurse.
In February 1745, Jeanne-Antoinette met Louis XV at Versailles and
soon became his mistress following the timely death of Madame
de Chateauroux. Soon afterwards Jeanne-Antoinette was given a
formal separation from her husband. She moved into Madame de
Chateauroux’s apartment and was given the title of Marquise de
Pompadour. At court, Alexandrine was kept out of sight as Madame
de Pompadour’s appeal to the king was as a lover rather than a
mother. From 1750 Alexandrine boarded at the Convent of the
Assumption in Paris, which provided schooling for the daughters of
the best families in France. It was here that Madame de Pompadour
arranged for Alexandrine to be betrothed to the young Duc de
Pecuignym, son of the August Duc de Chaulnes, following several
attempts of marrying her into several more important families such
as the Richelieu and the Dauphines. On June 14 1754, Alexandrine
listed in the Elysée inventories of Madame de Pompadour, remains
was taken ill at the convent. Madame de Pompadour was away and
unknown, most of Boucher’s pastels were depictions from the bust
did not make it to Paris before Alexandrine died of acute peritonitis.
and upwards, therefore it is unlikely that the present picture is a
She was deeply saddened by her daughter’s death, ‘All satisfaction
direct derivation from the pastel.1
for me’, the Marquise wrote, ‘died with my daughter’2. Alexandrine’s
Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, (later Lenormant d’Etiolles and then
continued until the 1750s when Boucher is also recorded turning
Marquise de Pompadour), married Charles-Guillaume Lenormant
down a commission from the Swedish Ambassador as a result of
d’Etiolles (1717-1789), a nephew and heir of Charles-François
exists. A small enamel on metal in a copper frame by Louis-François
Tencin whose Literary Circle Jeanne-Antoinette had frequented. As
While the whereabouts and nature of the pastel of Alexandrine,
The numerous commissions for Madame de Pompadour
engagements for his patroness. Very little imagery of Alexandrine
Lenormant de
1 Alastair Laing believes the painting to be by Boucher apart from the head, which he
suggests to have been executed by a different hand. He also suggests that the painting
was done after the pastel. The signature has been tested by David Chesterman (restorer) who confirms it is an authentic Boucher signature.
grandfather François Poisson died eleven days later on June 25 1754,
devastated by his dear granddaughter’s death. Mlle Alexandrine was
buried in the Eglise du Couvent des Capucines in a part of the
chapel of the Tremoille family.
Fig. 2 François Guérin
Madame de Pompadour and her daughter Alexandrine,
Black and white chalks with touches of red chalk on blue laid
paper, laid down to heavy cream laid secondary support,
23.9 x 19 cm
Crocker Art Gallery, Sacramento, California
2 De Piépape, Lettres de Madame de Pompadour
Sebastien Bourdon
(Montpellier 1616 - 1671 Paris)
Moses and the Daughters of Jethro
In a French Louis XIV frame, carved oak and gilded, with sight moulding of reeds
Oil on canvas
bound by leaves, a sanded frieze and scrolling acanthus leaf and strapwork ornament
115 x 156 cm (45 x 61 ½ in)
on an ogee section between pronounced centre and corner ornaments.
Provenance
Probably in the collection of Mr. Francois Forcadel, Seigneur de Blaru,
Thence probably by descent to Euverte Forcadel, until his death in 16951
In the collection of Col. Pierre de la Porte, Paris, until his death in 17122
Baron d’Espagnac, Jean Baptisqte Joseph Damazit de Sahuguet, until his death in 17833
John Trumbull Esq. His Sale, Christie’s 1797 Feb 17-18 Lot 48
(hand written note in sale catalogue giving an approximate measurement of 4 by 6 feet).
J. Smith, Bought in the above sale for £ 136.10
Acquired by owner listed below in 1953 from Appleby Brothers Ltd, London as Attributed to Nicolas Poussin
Monserrat-Roque-Villa Collection, Barcelona
Thence by descent in family, Barcelona until 2004
Literature
Jacques Tuillier, Sebastien Bourdon 1616-1671: Catalogue critique et chronologique de l’œuvre complet, Retrospective
Exhibition Catalogue: Le Musée Fabre Montpellier, Paris, 2000, p. 332, cat. No197. Included in catalogue but not lent.
Germain Brice, Description Nouvelle de ce qu’il y a de plus remarquable dans la Ville de Paris, 6th Edition, printed in 1713.
painting depicts Moses as he chases away the shepherds having
of his “Description de la Ville de Paris”, 1713 as being one of the
prevented the seven daughters of the Jethro to water their father’s
artist’s masterpieces.
flock (Exodus 2: 15-22).
A gifted painter, draughtsman and engraver, Sebastien Bourdon
The carefully conceived composition and classical handling of
was one of the most successful painters of the mid-17th century in
We are grateful to Jean-Claude Boyer, Centre d’étude de la langue et
to 1657 further supports this idea as Bourdon went on several long
the figures and landscape are closely reminiscent of Bourdon’s
France and highly praised by the writer André Félibien. He began
de la littérature françaises, Université de Sorbonne for suggesting the
sojourns to Montpellier in 1649 and again in 1657-58.
most pervasive influence, Nicolas Poussin. (The present work is
his career as an imitator of the Bamboccianti and of Giovanni
Sebastien Bourdon created several religious paintings deriving from
particularly close to Poussin’s 1648 Rebecca at the Well, now in the
Benedetto Castiglione, and later produced altarpieces in a vigorous
the life of Moses, including the Finding of Moses in the National
Louvre fig. 2), both in spirit and treatment of the composite parts.
Baroque style and portraits in the manner of Anthony van Dyck,
Gallery
Washington
It is interesting
before coming under the classicising influence of Nicolas Poussin.
(see fig. 1), and Moïse
to note that the
Towards the end of his career, in a lecture to the Académie Royale,
devant
present painting
he recommended that young artists reject uniformity of inspiration.
Ardent now in the
was
cited
by
Remarkably he was able to give a personal flavour to his work in any
church of Crecy-la-
Brice
in
the
style and genre.
Bataille. The present
sixth
inscription at the back of the canvas to make reference to Euverte or
Claude Forcadel who were both established in Paris in the later years
of the 17th Century. While the Forcadel family was well installed in
Paris society, documented as collectors in their own right but also
as controllers of the collection of Phillipe Orleans (brother of Louis
XIV), they were a family of Mediterranean/Languedocian origin
and so it is not unlikely that an initial contact between Bourdon and
the Forcadels was made in Montpellier. The dating of the picture
le
Buisson
edition
Alexandre Calame
(Arabie 1810 - 1864 Menton)
View of Valley with Animals, possibly showing the death of the artist Charles Gough
Watercolour on paper
22 x 28.5 cm (8.6 x 11.2 in)
Signed “Alex(?). Calame f. d’après (?) dess. (?) de Diday”.
Provenance
Private Collection, Switzerland
Part of the Genevan School, Alexandre Calame was the most
Calame worked relentlessly, despite his ill health and left, on top
important romantic painter of the scenery of the Swiss Alps in the
of his painted works, around two thousand drawings, and several
19th century. The force of nature in all its guises; whether violently
collections of lithographs and etchings when he died in 1864.
hostile or picturesque forms the subject matter of his works. He
alternated between depicting mountainous scenes and the lakes and
plains of the Alps. What is most notable in his works is that man is
almost always absent from the composition.
Alexandre Calame was born in Arabie at the time belonging to
Corsier-sur-Vevey, today a part of Vevey. He was the son of a skillful
marble worker and of a music teacher and grew up in Cortaillod
and in Geneva where the family moved to in 1824. He led a modest
The present work is of particular note as the artist has included a
life and could not finish his studies after his father lost the family
scene of apparent drama. In the lower right hand corner a dog is
fortune and he was forced to provide for his mother. At the age
clearly depicted, its head raised upward with its front legs standing
of 19 in 1829 he met the banker Diodati who became his patron
on a mass which is clearly not a part of the landscape. The general
and afforded him the opportunity to study under the tutelage of
form of this mass looks to be humanoid, and it is quite possible that
François Diday, a landscape painter. In the following years he
he is depicting a romanticised vision of the death of the English artist
became a very successful landscape painter and exhibited his Swiss-
Charles Gough. Gough had fallen to his death on Helvellyn in 1805
Alps and forest paintings in Paris and Berlin. In 1839 he won the
while on a walk with his dog Foxie. The subsequent finding of his
prize at the Louvre Salon with his Storm at Handeck (now at the
decomposed body and the survival of the dog, which had not moved
Musée d’art ed d’Histoire in Geneva), which became the manifesto
from its master’s body, became a cause celebre amongst members of
of Swiss alpine and romantic painting. The forests, cascades, rivers
the Romantic movement in England and abroad. Knowing Calame’s
and mountains that surrounded him such as the Mont Blanc, the
interest in the force of nature, such an incident would no doubt have
Jungfrau, the Monte Rosa and Mont Cervin were the source of
excited his imagination.
inspiration for his successful paintings. He sojourned and travelled
Calame’s career was prodigious and he knew great success; the Tsar’s
family and European nobility all visited his studio and Napoleon III
bought his Lac des Quatre-Cantons at L’Exposition Universelle.
to France, Italy (1844), London (1850), Germany (1852), Belgium
(1846, 1852) and the Netherlands (1838, 1846). His main interest,
though, remained the Alps in his native Switzerland.
Jeanne-Elisabeth Chaudet (1767 - 1832)
A Young Girl in a White Dress with a Green Sash kneeling by a Bird Cage while tending to her Birds Oil on canvas
100 x 80.5 cm (39.7 x 31.69 in)
Provenance
Spanish Private Collection
Related Literature
“Vie et oeuvre de Jeanne-Elisabeth Chaudet (1767 - 1832)”,
Charlotte Foucher, Tours, Université François Rabelais, June 2007, 2 vols.
We are grateful to Charlotte Foucher for her kind assistance with this painting and for confirming the attribution to
Chaudet. We are also grateful to Claudine Lebrun Jouve for verbally confirming the attribution to Chaudet.
Jeanne-Elisabeth Chaudet (née Gabiou) was an important Empire
She is best known though for her porcelain like palette and quixotic
painter who began her career as a pupil of the renowned 18th-
images of young girls feeding animals and birds. Indeed one of her
century portrait painter Elisabeth Vigée-Le Brun. She was born
finest, now in the Napoleonmuseum in Areneburg, was ‘Young Girl
into a creative family environment, the daughter of a wig maker.
Feeding Chicks’ which had been bought by Josephine expressly
Her brother married her cousin, Marie-Elisabeth Lemoine, a fine
for Malmaison. It is clear that her subject choice was motivated
Empire painter in her own right. She was later apprenticed to the
by contemporary thinking and art, not only the theories on child
painter and sculptor Antoine-Denis Chaudet who, in 1793, became
imagery of Rousseau but also the art of Greuze (particularly ‘Young
her husband. Girl Crying over her dead Pigeon’, Arras).
Chaudet exhibited consistently at the Paris Salon from 1798 to
Antoine-Denis died in 1810 and she remarried two years later to
1817, receiving a ‘Prix d’Encouragement’ in 1812 for her ‘Little
Pierre-Arsène-Denis Husson, although this did not discourage her
Girl Eating Cherries’, now in the Musée Marmottan. Her regular
artistic output. She succumbed finally to cholera in 1832 after a long
appearances at the Salon gained her great popularity with both
and distinguished career. Sadly the ten paintings left to the Museum
critics and the public. in Arras by her second husband in 1843 were largely destroyed in
She painted a great number of portraits, mostly of the close circle
the July 1915 bombardments.
of those working around Napoleon and the Empress Josephine
The finest examples of her work are to be found in Arenenburg,
(who was to become an important patron). A fine example is at
Arras, Fontainebleau, Nice, Paris (Marmottan) and Versailles.
Fontainbleau of ‘Marie-Laetitia Murat with a bust of Napoleon’.
Antoine de Favray
(Paris 1706 - 1792 Malta)
Portrait of Emmanuel, Prince de Rohan, Grand Master of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and
of Malta, the Bishop of Malta, the Grand Prior of Saint John’s Church, the Grand Marshall and Chaplain of
the Order, pages of honour and the Chaplain’s assistant; and Portrait of ladies of the Knights of Malta with their
maidservant
Oil on canvas
44 x 69.5 cm each (17 5/16 x 27 3/8 in)
Provenance
Private Collection
Not much is known of de Favray’s early life. He was born in
The present paintings depict Emmanuel, Prince de Rohan, who was
Bagnolet, today a suburb of the Paris metropolis and his artistic
elected Grand Master of the Order of Saint John in 1775 and was
career blossomed at the age of thirty when he accompanied the
active in reforming the Order. It was due to de Rohan that Favray
French painter Jean-Francois de Troy to Rome where he had just
was made Commander of Valcanville near Valognes in Normandy.
been appointed as the new Director of the French Academy. De
Troy’s reputation in Rome was considerable and Favray enjoyed the
status of pensionnaire between 1738 and 1744. As he was lodged at
Palazzo Mancini in Via del Corso, at the time the seat of the French
Academy, it was easy for him to offer his assistance to de Troy in
the preparation of his canvases. He was also assigned a project to
reproduce one of Raphael’s frescoes in the Vatican. After six years
spent in Rome and having become acquainted with a number of
knights of the Order of St John, de Favray head south to Malta
enjoying the patronage of Emanuel Pinto de Fonseca, the Portuguese
ruling governor of the island, and of the Maltese aristocracy.
The group of ladies are of uniform size and are set against a neutral
background. The two ladies depicted on the left show their indoor
costumes while the ladies in black are wearing outdoor Faldettas.
The faldetta, also known as ghonnella was a form of women’s head
dress and shawl, or hooded cloak, unique to the Mediterranean
islands of Malta and Gozo. It was generally made of cotton or
silk, and usually black or some other dark colour, although from
the sixteenth century onwards, noble women and women from
wealthier households frequently wore white or brightly coloured
ghonnelle. The ghonnella covered the head but did not cover the
face. In the group of women there is also a juxtaposition between
The cultural atmosphere in Malta at the time was highly propitious
the elaborately designed shoes of the affluent ladies and the naked
for the French artist’s aspirations. He moved easily within the circle
feet of their maidservant providing a telling contrast of social status.
of knights, who, following some prestigious portraits which he
produced, notably that of the reigning Grand Master of the Order
of St John, were eager to obtain his services for similar commissions.
(Grasse 1732 - 1806 Paris)
Young Washerwomen
Oil on canvas
54 x 68 cm (21 ¼ x 26 ¾ in)
Provenance
Del Gallo Roccagiovine family, France and Rome
Literature
J.P. Cuzin, Jean Honoré Fragonard, vie et oeuvre: catalogue complet des peintures, Fribourg & Paris, 1987, p.271, no. 61;
P. Rosenberg, Tout l’oeuvre peint de Fragonard, Paris, 1989, pp. 76-7, no. 52.
This is a recently discovered painting that Jean-Pierre Cuzin and
These paintings are striking because of their dramatic contrasts
Pierre Rosenberg believe to be among the first paintings executed by
of light and shade, warm reddish-brown palette, and the frank,
Fragonard when he arrived in Rome in 1756 as a pensionnaire at the
vivid touch enlivens a pervasive darkness with just a few sharp and
Académie de France at Palazzo Mancini. Since the sixteenth century
brilliant access of light.
it is common for artists wanting to enhance their learning to go to
different countries in Europe and above all in Rome, epicenter of
the Grand Tour. Fragonard was charmed by the sight of the routines
of daily life played out amid the ancient monuments and streets of
Rome, especially the many young servant girls who washed linen in
the city’s great public fountains. This subject was the inspiration for
this canvas and several of the earliest genre scenes made by the artist
in Italy, including Laundresses at the fountain (private collection;
see Cuzin, cat no. 62), The laundresses (Rouen, Musée des BeauxArts; see Cuzin, cat no. 71), The washerwomen (Saint Louis Art
Museum, see fig. 1), and Women with Children, Washing Clothes
(private collection; see Cuzin cat no. 73).
Jean-Honoré Fragonard was one of the most prolific artists of his
the Rococo spirit. He was a great admirer of Tiepolo and of the late
time, producing more than 550 works during his career. Influenced
Baroque and moved to Italy from 1756 to 1761 where he won the
by his teachers, Boucher and Chardin, and their feeling for the rocaille
Prix de Rome. Returning to Paris he changed his style adopting the
figurative culture, Fragonard breathed new life into the Rococo
erotic subjects in vogue (The Swing - Wallace Collection, London
movement with his inspirational ease of style and elegant treatment
- is the most important picture of that time). After his marriage in
of his subjects. His invigorating handling of colour and his strongly
1769 he started painting children and family scenes, returning also
expressed naturalism were reminiscent of the Dutch master, Hals
to religious subjects. Starting from 1770 he worked only for private
and the mature style of Rembrandt. Fragonard’s paintings featured
patrons. Fragonard represents the entire spirit of the ancien régime
beautiful, pastoral settings, erotic scenes, and amorous encounters,
on the eve of the revolution.
Fig. 1 The Washerwoman, oil on canvas, 73 x 61.5 cm, Saint Louis
and show a sensuous and tactile application of colour. Fragonard’s
Art Museum
scenes of frivolity and gallantry are considered the embodiment of
During the 1750s when the
young Fragonard worked as an
assistant in François Boucher’s
Three Putti crowned with flowers amongst clouds
workshop, he participated in the
execution of many decorative
Oil on canvas
82 x 73.5 cm (32.2 x 28.9 in)
Painted circa 1753
Provenance
Most probably painted for Pierre Jombert, Paris;
Possibly Jombert Sale, Paris, 15th April 1776, n. 42 as: “Un plafond peint par J-H. Fragonard: il est compose
d’ornaments
d’architecture avec des enfans tenans des guirlandes de fleurs”, 81 x 65 cm, sold for 47 livres 19 sols;
François Marcille (Orléans 1790 - 1856 Paris);
By descent Camille Constantine Marcille (Chartres 1816 - 1875 Paris), Conservator of the Musée de Chartres;
Camille Marcille Sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, M. Pillet (Paul de Saint-Victor, expert), 6th March 1876, n. 28, sold for
5.250 francs to M. Verdé-Delisle;
paintings that were installed
above
doorways
that
were
then fashionable in Parisian
townhouses. These decorations
were often set in celestial scenes
of calm, depicting voluptuous
female nudes as mythological
or allegorical subjects, or flying
putti such as in the present
painting. These were usually
linked with traditional allegorical
themes, such as the Times of the
Day or the Four Seasons.
By descent, Jean Verdé-Delisle Collection, Paris;
The Putti here are beautifully
Verdé-Delisle Collection, Paris until 2012.
rendered while the colours are
subtly modulated with plays
Exhibited
of light and shade. The gold
Exposition d’oeuvres de J.-H. Fragonard, Musée du Louvre, Paris, 1921, n. 1 p. 17, plate I. (Catalogue by Georges
of the curled hair and the pale
Wildenstein)
translucent skin of the putti,
together with the light blue
de Rubens ... Le marteau des
As pointed out by Alastair
Literature
palette of the sky are almost
enchères va bientôt disperser ce
Laing, the types of the putti
P. de Saint-Victor, Introduction du catalogue de la vente Camille Marcille, Paris, 1876, n. 28, pp. 12-13, pl. V.
palpably joyful and perfectly
beau cabinet, mais son soouvenir
are also found in a red chalk
R. Portalis, Honoré Fragonard, sa vie, son oeuvre, Paris, 1889, p. 278 (as in the collection of M. Verdé-Delisle).
fit the Rococo tradition of
survivra à sa dispersion. A chacun
drawing of Putti Holding up
H. Mireur, Dictionnaire des Ventes d’Art faites en France et à l’Etranger pendant les XVIIIe et XIX siècles, Paris,
sensitivity to a lighter palette
des tableaux...le nom de Marcille
a Bird-Cage, previously in the
1911, vol. III, p. 193.
and softer form. Paul de Saint-
imprimera ce fin signe de goût,
Marius Paulme Collection and
G. Wildenstein, Exposition d’oeuvres de J.-H. Fragonard, exh. Cat., Paris, 1921, n. 1, p. 17, pl. 1.
Victor’s
described
cette marque d’originalité et
then in the Stralem Collection
the picture in his introduction
de qualité qui ajoute à la valeur
and sale at Christie’s, London,
to the catalogue of the Marcille
du morceau la distinction de la
13th December 1984, lot 167,
sale: “La Fuite à dessein... et
provenance.”
and again at Sotheby’s, New
We are grateful to Alastair Laing and Pierre Rosenberg for independently confirming the attribution upon viewing
the original. The painting has also been seen by Marie-Anne Dupuy-Vachey, who is currently working on the
catalogue raisonne of Fragonard drawings.
poetically
le Groupe d’enfants noyé et
York, 9th January 1996, lot 78
comme pétri dans la lumière
(Ananoff, no. 24, vol. II, fig. 334.)
After Luca Giordano
illuminates him from the left reinforcing the viewer’s gaze upon him.
The present composition is after a lost Luca Giordano painting of
circa 1657-60, which is known through an engraving and recorded
as having been part of the collection of the Duc d’Orleans (1674-
A sketch for Christ driving the Moneychangers
from the Temple
1723) in Paris together with its pendant depicting the Pool of
seeing the wonderful collection
of paintings at the Palais Royal
where he could benefit from
studying and copying the works
of the greatest masters.
Bethesba (see fig. 1 and Oreste Ferrari and Giuseppe Scavizzi, Luca
Our
Giordano. L’opera completa, Naples, 1992, p. 401, fig. 1084). The
testimony of the original colour
Oil on canvas
two now lost Giordano paintings were gifted to Philip Duc d’Orleans
scheme of Giordano’s painting,
58.5 x 73.5 cm (23 1/16 x 28 15/16 in)
by Charles II of Spain in exchange of two works by Pierre Mignard.
although certain details differ
When the collection was sold in 1792 and transferred to England
from the engraving: the woman
Provenance
the two paintings were then dispersed in various London sales, the
in the foreground to the left is
Sale, Hotel Drouot, Paris, 28th March 2001, lot 90;
last record being in 1800 for Christ driving the Moneychangers out
missing the prominent necklace
Private Collection
of the Temple.
which is visible in the figure in
Literature
Carolina Trupiano, La “Cacciata dei mercanti dal
Tempio”. Un bozzetto ritrovato. in “Jean-Honoré
Fragonard e l’Italia. La formazione di un mondo
figurativo”, thesis for MA in History of Art and
Cultural Heritage, July 2015, Ca’ Foscari University,
Venice, pp. 56-64.
Until the discovery of the present sketch, the Giordano composition
was only known through the engraving commissioned by Louis
Philippe Joseph d’Orléans (1747-1793) from Robert de Launay
(1749?-1814), which was part of a larger project to leave a lasting
memory of his collection. Although the project dates to circa
1785, the engraving for this painting was executed in 1790. The
young Fragonard had encountered the works of Giordano during
his trip to Italy accompanying the Abbé de Saint Non. During his
sojourn in the Italian peninsula he studied and admired the works
The story of Christ expelling the moneychangers from the temple
of the great Italian masters, including Giordano who profoundly
is mentioned in all four Gospels: “And Jesus went into the temple
influenced the young painter. Fragonard saw the works by the
of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple,
great Neapolitan mannerist not only in Naples but also in Venice,
and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and seats of them
Vicenza, Genoa and then in Paris when he returned from his trip in
that sold doves. And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be
1761. It is most probable that Fragonard saw the original Giordano
called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.” In
while it was hanging at the Palais Royal. The Regent in fact opened
this work by Fragonard the action has moved from the inside of the
his collection to artists, art lovers and connoisseurs and in 1727,
temple to just outside the entrance. The powerful figure of Christ
four years after his death, it was made freely accessible to all polite
cuts diagonally across the composition with both of his arms raised.
visitors, a tradition that continued by the Regent’s successors until
The intense blue of his shawl marks him out against the warm,
the Revolution. In 1747 La Font de Saint-Yenne could contrast the
mainly golden and olive-green colours of the painting. The stream
royal collection which was closed at the time with the Palais Royal
of light which runs across the temple wall seems to accompany
“where one learns about all the styles and epochs of painting”. The
Christ, emphasising the impression of his energetic movement. It
young Fragonard surely would take advantage of the possibility of
sketch
is
a
precious
the engraving, the merchant
to the right of the composition
wearing a blue hat and carrying
a sack on his back is wearing a
simple cloth wrapped around
which he also employs upon his
his body while it is much more
return to Paris as in the present
elaborate and with stripes in the
painting.
engraving.1 Nevertheless, from
Fig. 1 After Luca Giordano, intermediary
a red chalk study of figures by
draughtsman, Antoine Borel, print made
Giordano presently in a private
collection (see fig. 2), we can
see how Fragonard was faithful
by Robert de Launay, Les vandeurs
chassés du Temple, date 1790, The British
Museum, inv. no. 1855,0609.482
Fig. 2 Luca Giordano, Figure Studies for
to the original. As Carolina
Christ driving the moneychangers from
Trupiano points out in her thesis
the Temple, red chalk and black chalk on
(see literature), even though it is
a sketch Fragonard masterfully
renders the power of the scene
in
a
compact
composition
directing all the gazes of the
figures towards Christ. The use
of red, ochre and blue are typical
of the young Roman Fragonard,
pink prepared paper. Numbered in pen
‘26’ at the top left corner. On the verso,
in the same technique, a sketch of the
Virgin and Child with souls in Purgatory.
Watermark: Pascal Lamb in double circle;
330 x 455 mm.
Attributed to Anne-Louis Girodet
a twenty-four-year-old pensioner at the French Royal Academy in
(Montargis 1767 - 1824 Paris)
Rome in 1791. It was then exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1793
receiving great acclaim for its originality and poetic qualities. This
is a manifestation of Girodet’s final break with David, eschewing
the rationalism of the Neoclassical style in which he was trained
Oil on canvas
37.8 x 46.4 cm (14.8 x 18.2 in)
Provenance
Private Collection, Paris;
in favour of a more imaginative and prescient Romantic vision.
The idealised nude is antique in inspiration but the moonlight and
the mysterious, timeless dreamlike atmosphere are hallmarks of an
emerging sensibility which was later celebrated and admired by
Chateaubriand, Balzac and Baudelaire.
With Wildenstein, New York;
Girodet himself wrote that he wanted to do something “new”
With R. Feigen, USA;
(“quelque chose de neuf ”). He provided his own account of the
Private Collection, USA
Endymion narrative by eluding the presence of the goddess Selene
or Diana, always depicted in earlier and later representations of the
Literature
myth and by adding Zephyr but furthermore by achieving a different
E. Lucie-Smith, The Body: Images of the Nude, Lon-
atmosphere by employing a blue-tinted shaft of light. Girodet
don, 1981, no. 103.
is influenced by his mannerist precedents such as Parmigianino,
Upon photographic inspection, Dr. Paul Lang, Deputy
Correggio, Caravaggio’s seductive youths as well as Leonardo’s use
Director and Chief Curator at the National Gallery
of sfumato producing a blend of sensuality and coldness. Having
of Canada, described the present painting as a “great
been lauded by contemporary critics, the composition was engraved
discovery”.
and lithographed and it was succeeded by numerous copied and
repetitions by other artists. Therefore it can be suggested that the
present version was commissioned after the Louvre version.
The shepherd Endymion, the most beautiful mortal according to
mythology, is sleeping naked beneath a plane tree. Juno, whom he
had offended, put him to sleep for thirty years during which he
retained his youthfulness. He is being visited at night by the goddess
Diana in the form of a moonbeam, which caresses Endymion’s
face and torso bathing him in an extraordinary glow. The chaste
Diana succumbed to his perfect beauty and visited him nightly. Her
passage through the foliage is facilitated by Zephyr who pulls back
the branches of a laurel tree.
Girodet was named ‘de Roussy’ after a forest near the family home,
Château du Verger, Montargis. He took the name Trioson in 1806,
Winner of the academy’s Prix de Rome in August 1789, Girodet
when he was adopted by Dr Benoît-François Trioson (d. 1815), his
only left for Italy in April the following year and escaped the
tutor and guardian and almost certainly his natural father. Girodet
outburst of counter-revolutionary violence against the French in
took lessons with a local drawing-master in 1773 and by 1780
Rome in January 1793, fleeing to Naples.
was studying architecture in Paris, where he became a pupil of the
visionary Neoclassical architect Etienne-Louis Boullée. Boullée
persuaded Girodet to study painting under Jacques-Louis David.
He belonged to the highly successful first generation of David’s
school, which included Jean-Germain Drouais, François-Xavier
The present painting is a ricordo, a smaller reproduction of the artist’s
Fabre, François Gérard, Antoine-Jean Gros and Jean-Baptiste-
larger version, now in the Louvre (see fig. 1), which he painted as
Joseph Wicar.
Fig. 1 Girodet
Oil on canvas
198 cm x 261 cm,
Musee du Louvre
contrast with the highly finished
(Tournus 1725 - 1805 Paris)
version of the Louvre, which
also includes a trompe-l’oeil
oval frame recalling the format
Self portrait
of the present study. There
are subtle differences between
Oil on oval canvas
the two versions such as in
61.5 x 51 cm (24.2 x 20 in)
the colour of the vest which is
c. 1785
yellow in our study and grey in
the Louvre picture. The latter is
Provenance
more elaborately detailed in the
Private Collection, Paris
ruff of the jabot while the rapid
brushstrokes of our painting
Related literature
J. Smith, Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters, VIII,
London, 1837;
confer a much more powerful
gaze and stern expression to our
subject. The neutral light brown
Supplement, London, 1842, n. 2;
E. and J. De Goncourt, L’art du dix-huitième siècle, I, Paris, 1880, 345;
J. Martin and C. Masson, Catalogue raisonné de l’oeuvre peint et dessiné de Jean-Baptiste Greuze, in C. Mauclair,
Jean Baptiste-Greuze, Paris, 1906, n. 1133;
background helps the viewer to
focus entirely on the sitter, who
is captivated by his brown eyes.
As Dr. Munhall has pointed out,
L. Hautecoeur, Greuze, Paris, 1913, 39;
L. Goldscheider, 500 Self-Portraits, London-Vienna, 1937, n. 331;
D. Diderot, Salons, ed. J. Seznec and J. Adhémar, I, Oxford, 1957, 98;
P. Rosemberg, N. Reynaud and I. Copin, Musée du Louvre: Catalogue illustré des Peintures: École française XVIIe
et XVIIIe siècles, Paris, 1974, I, n. 327;
E. Munhall, Jean-Baptiste Greuze/1725-1805, exh. cat., Hartford CT, 1976, 190;
L. Gowing, Paintings in the Louvre, New York, 1987, 570.
the subject’s hair is powered and
dressed in the “pigeon wing”
style Greuze always affected.
Another fine version recently
made 350,500USD at auction
(Sotheby’s New York, Important
Old
We are grateful to Dr. Christoph Vogtherr, Director of the Wallace Collection and to Dr. Edgar Munhall, Curator
Emeritus at the Frick Collection for confirming the attribution to Jean-Baptiste Greuze. Please see enclosed Dr.
Munhall’s report.
Master
Paintings
and
Sculpture Sale, January 31st
2013, lot 80 see fig. 2). It is one
out of less than twenty known
pastels by the master. The nature
of the medium confers subtle
The present canvas is an exciting discovery and addition to Greuze’s
that the artist exhibited at the Salon of 1761, the apparent age of
oeuvre. It is no doubt a sketch for his Self-Portrait now in the Musée
the sitter together with the style suggest that the Louvre painting
du Louvre (see fig. 1). Although it is generally accepted that the
is a characteristic work of the 1780s, such as our painting which
latter corresponds to the Portrait de M. Greuze, peint par lui-même
Dr. Munhall dates to c. 1785. It is rapidly and thinly painted, in
and delicate brushstrokes.
Fig. 1 Musée du Louvre, Paris
Fig. 2 Sotheby’s
New York, 2013
painting concentrated on aristocratic diversions, decorative por-
(Tournus 1725 - 1805 Paris)
traits, mythological and allegorical themes frequently treated in a
playful or erotic manner, and idyllic pastoral scenes. Greuze’s mor-
Les Petits Orphelins
alizing rustic dramas constituted a reaction against rococo frivolity
in art; by appealing to emotion they were also a revolt against the
Oil on canvas
90.8 x 72.1 cm (35.7 x 28.4 in)
Provenance
We are grateful to Dr. Edgar Munhall, Curator
emphasis placed upon reason and science by the philosophers of the
Enlightenment, the intellectual movement that pervaded the first
half of the 18th century. His unique works were greatly admired by
connoisseurs, critics and the general public throughout most of his
life. His pictures were in the collections of such noted connoisseurs
as Ange-Laurent de La Live de Jully, Claude-Henri Watelet and Etienne-François, Duc de Choiseul.
Emeritus at the Frick Collection, for confirming
Another version of Les Petits Orphelins,, of almost identical size and
the attribution to Jean Baptiste Greuze and for
composition, belonged to the collection of Sir Ian Forbes-Leith of
dating the picture to 1785-90
Fyvie Castle, Aberdeenshire. The Castle and its collection are now
owned by the National Trust of Scotland. Fyvie Castle boasts a rich
Jean Baptiste Greuze was born in Tournus on August 21, 1725. His
early life is obscure, but he studied painting in Lyon and was in
Paris by 1750, where he entered the Royal Academy as a student
and worked with Charles Joseph Natoire, a prominent decorative
painter. During the 1760s Greuze achieved a significant reputation
with his paintings of peasants and lower-class people seen in humble surroundings and in the midst of theatrically emotional family
situations and in 1769 he was admitted to the academy as a genre
painter. Ambitious to become a member of the academy as a history
collection of art, including works by Batoni, Romney, Gainsborough and the largest private collection of Raeburns in the world.
Les Petits Orphelins (see fig.1) was purchased by Alexander ForbesLeith, Lord Leith of Fyvie in London in 1901. Its distinguished
provenance includes ownership by Greuze’s notary, and avid collector of his work Charles-Nicolas Duclos-Dufresnoy (his posthumous
sale, Paris 18 August 1795, lot 10, sold for 48,500 livres) as well as
by Napoloeon’s uncle Joseph Cardinal Fesch (his sale, Rome 17-18
March 1845, lot 355-1831).
painter, which was of higher rank, he was so angered by his admis-
Les Petits Orphelins pictures a young girl with a boy - most likely
sion as only a genre painter that he refused to show his paintings at
her younger sibling - and a dog. The young orphans in this painting
the academy’s exhibitions (the Salons). However, by that time he
address the viewer through their poses. Their sweet, beseeching faces
had already established a successful career and could afford to ignore
are raised to meet the viewer’s gaze. The girl kneels, supporting her
the Salons.
brother, her hands clasped beneath her chin in a gesture of earnest
The Rococo style that dominated French painting during the 18th
century was aristocratic in nature, elegant, and sensuous. Stylistically it depended upon soft colours, refined textures, free brushwork,
and asymmetrical compositions based upon the interplay of curved
lines and masses. Produced for highly sophisticated patrons, rococo
need. Even the dog looks listless and in need. There are some subtle
differences between our version and the painting at Fyvie Castle.
For instance, the young girl’s brow in our version is slightly more
furrowed and her eyes have a more mournful look about them.
Bellona Calling Mars to War by Handing over the Reins to Her Chariot
Oil on canvas
65 x 93.5 cm (25.6 x 36.8 in)
Signed lower left: L. Lagrenee
Provenance
Literature
Marc Sandoz, Les Lagrenée: 1 - Louis (Jean, Francois)
LAGRENÉE 1725 - 1805.
Editart-les Quatre Chemins: 1983, pp 301, no. 442
Dr. Christoph Vogtherr, Director of the Wallace Collection, is
admitted as a member of the Académie Royale upon presentation
musculature in her upper arm, and again lending potency to her
researching Lagrenée’s composition taking inspiration from the
of The Rape of Dejanira, now in the Louvre. Catherine II invited
figure as the revered goddess of war. The scene presented here is
works of French artist, Charles Le Brun, (1619-1690) who painted
him to Russia between 1760 and 1762, where he held the office of
one of carnage. The wheels of the chariot have made dust clouds in
large altarpieces and battle scenes at Versailles for Louis XIV. He
head of the Imperial Academy of the Fine Arts. Napoleon went on
the foreground whilst bodies, horses and pieces of armour litter the
is also working on the theory that the mythological subject may
to make him chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur and rector of the
scene. A man reaches up from the ground to prevent a horse from
be based on a scene from the Trojan Wars, (1194-1184 BC) and
École des Beaux-Arts in 1804.
falling on him, and swords, spears and arrows are poised for action.
believes the painting dates from the 1780s.
Bellona was the Ancient Roman goddess of war, closely related
Louis Jean Francois Lagrenée was born in Paris in 1725. He became
to Mars, the Ancient Roman god of war, and often cited as his
a pupil of Carle Vanloo, who was acclaimed for his masterful ability
charioteer. Indeed, in Lagrenée’s depiction of her she is seen astride
to depict a range of subjects and styles; spending much of his time
a golden chariot, feminine in form and with long flowing draperies
in Italy as well as in France. Louis’ brother, Jean-Jacques Lagrenée
and hair. However, her pose is decidedly virile; her arm is drawn
(1739 - 1821) known as ‘the younger’, was also a history painter
back above her head as she prepares to release an arrow from her
and engraver. In 1749 Louis Lagrenée won the Prix de Rome, and
bow. The draperies around her right arm have slipped back towards
moved to Rome until 1763, when he returned to Paris. He was
her shoulder, revealing Lagrenée’s considered articulation of the
Bellona was an important figure in the history of Ancient Rome. An
annual festival was held in her honour on June 3rd. Furthermore,
all of the senate’s discussions of foreign warfare were held at the
Templum Bellonae on the Capitoline Hill. The subject matter of
this painting would undoubtedly have been influenced by Lagrenée’s
time in Rome and his exposure to its ancient history.
Le Lever de l’Aurore
Part of a set of four depicting ‘The Hours’
Oil on canvas
70 x 139 cm (27.5 x 54.7 in)
Signed and dated L. Lagrenee 1772
Provenance
Commissioned for Mr. de Saint-Jullien, Tresorier du Clerge, 1772 (Etat No 222 - 225 at 1000 livres each);
Collection of Louis Lasson, probably acquired as part of contents of Chateau de Villemoisson-sur-Orge when
acquired in 1839; Thence by descent
Literature
Les Lagrenée: 1 - Louis (Jean, Francois) LAGRENÉE 1725 - 1805. Marc Sandoz.
Editart-les Quatre Chemins. 1983. pp 99-100, 232, XXXVI;
The Arts of France, From Francois 1er to Napoleon 1er. Edited by Wildenstein NY, p. 389
Le Lever de l’Aurore, or ‘The Break of Dawn’ illustrates Dawn
couvre de son voile les heureux amants (‘The Veils of Night Cover
Louis Jean Francois Lagrenée was born in Paris in 1725. He became
His allegorical works, such as the present piece, were inspired by
dressed in yellow and blue flowing drapery and holding a basket of
the Happy Lovers’) of ‘Night’. According to Edmond de Goncourt
a pupil of Carle Vanloo, acclaimed for his masterful ability to depict
Boucher and the Italian High Renaissance artists. Royal commissions
tumbling roses, being greeted by Night, dressed in pink and white.
(French writer, literary and art critic and founder of the Académie
a range of subjects and styles, spending much of his time in Italy
were plentiful and along with Joseph Marie Vien, he was largely
Behind the women and their entourage, the dark sky parts, letting
Goncourt), these paintings were carried out for ‘M de Saint-Jullien,
as well as in France. Louis’ brother, Jean-Jacques Lagrenée (1739
responsible for the shift in direction from the Rococo style towards a
the morning light break through. This was part of a set of paintings
trésorier du clergé’ at ‘1000 livres chaque tableau’ in 1772. They
- 1821) known as ‘the younger’, was also a history painter and
more restrained classical style. Deliberately rejecting the exuberant,
depicting ‘The Hours’, with text in this painting, taken from Homer’s
were probably painted to be positioned over doors. Two of the
engraver. In 1749 Louis Lagrenée won the Prix de Rome, and moved
artificial aesthetic of the mid-1700’s, he revived instead the previous
Iliad; the 1 translation into French was made in 1615 by Salomon
works were in 1974 acquired by the Allen Memorial Art Museum,
there until 1763, when he returned to Paris. He was admitted as a
century’s taste for cool colours and polished, refined technique.
Carton, followed by a 2nd in 1618. In 1731 Mme Dacier made a
Oberlin College. According to the Allen Memorial Art Museum it
member of the Académie Royale upon presentation of The Rape of
new translation which was used continually by French artists. Le
is likely that Mr. de Saint-Julien was the Baron de Saint-Julien, who
Dejanira, now in the Louvre. Catherine II invited him to Russia
Lever de l’Aurore is taken from Book 19, shortly after Proculus was
was long assumed to have commissioned Fragonard’s The Swing in
and between 1760 and 1762, where he held the office of head of
killed by Hector. ‘Now Dawn the saffron-robed goddess arose from
the Wallace Collection.
the Imperial Academy of the Fine Arts. When he returned to Paris,
st
the streams of Oceanus to bring light to immortals and to mortal
men’.
Painted in the mid-period of his career, having returned from Russia,
Lagrenée was shortly to become the director of the French Academy
The other allegorical scenes in the series that Lagrenee depicted
in Rome. Other allegorical scenes of note are his two paintings for
were Le Soleil dissipant les vents et les orages (‘The Sun, as Apollo,
the Chateau de Choisy; La Justice et la Cleménce and La Bonté et
Dissipating the Wind and the Storm’) or ‘Day’; Apollon dans le sein
la Générosité.
de Thétis (‘Apollo in the Bosom of Thetis’) or ‘Dusk’; La Nuit qui
between the years 1781 to 1785 he was Directeur of the Academie
de France in Rome. Napoleon went on to make him chevalier of the
L. of Honour and rector of the École des Beaux-Arts in 1804.
Nicolas Lancret
Le Concert Pastoral
Oil on canvas
52.5 x 65 cm (20.6 x 25.5 in)
Painted c. 1715
Provenance
Private Collection
We are grateful to Mary Tavener-Holmes for confirming the attribution to Nicolas Lancret and for dating the painting to circa
1715 based on first hand examination.
Fete Galante in Schloss Sanssouci (Stiftung Preussische Schloesser und Gaerten Berlin-Brandenburg, Inv. No. GK I 5622)
listed in Ingersoll-Smouse’s Pater catalogue as no. 235 (fig. 59).
French painter, draughtsman and collector, Lancret was one of
from the history painting pursued by his friend François Lemoyne.
Lancret’s success exploded in the early 1720s, after Watteau’s and
The present composition is populated by figures in a garden
the most prolific and imaginative genre painters of the first half
Two contemporary biographers, Ballot de Sovot and Dézallier
Gillot’s deaths made him the leading source for such pictures. Under
surrounded by trees. On the left a musician plays the flute which
of the 18th century in France, and, although after his death he
D’Argenville, suggest that Lancret’s move to Gillot was the result
Louis XV’s enthusiastic patronage, Lancret’s paintings adorned the
together with the setting lends the subject a poetic quality and
was long regarded as a follower and imitator of Antoine Watteau,
of the increasing popularity of Watteau’s genre scenes of elegant
walls of numerous royal residences, including Versailles.
delights the couples in their merrymaking and courtship activities.
his work is markedly personal and innovative making him one
figures in garden settings. Although he never studied formally under
of the most celebrated artists in France. He began training as an
Watteau—whom he probably met around 1712—Lancret was
engraver but was soon apprenticed to Pierre Dulin (1669-1748),
strongly influenced by his work, particularly in his early paintings.
a moderately successful history painter; by 1708 he had enrolled
In 1719 he was received (reçu) into the Académie Royale as a painter
as a student at the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture,
of fêtes galantes, a category that had been created two years earlier
Paris. At an unknown date he entered the workshop of the genre
especially for Watteau.
and decorative painter Claude Gillot, who had been Watteau’s
master. This move signalled an important change of direction away
While Lancret’s subject matter derived from both Watteau and
Gillot, his rich colours, such as pastel yellows and pinks combined
with rich poppy reds, were uniquely his own. He painted over
seven hundred pictures, including allegorical cycles and portraits,
which he often depicted as genre scenes. Also a skilled draftsman, he
worked in red chalk or, like Watteau, in the trois crayons technique.
His complex and often humorous narratives influenced François
Boucher, William Hogarth, and Thomas Gainsborough.
Three children in the foreground are playing with a dog, completely
separated by the adults in their company. This picture with its
liveliness captures the viewer’s imagination who is invited to enter
and participate into the scene.
Claude Lefèbvre
(Fontainebleau 1632 - 1675 Paris)
Portrait of Cardinal de Retz, Archbishop of Paris
Oil on canvas
79 x 61 cm (31.1 x 24 in)
Provenance
According to labels on the reverse of the picture:
Chateau de Grandchamps, Beaumont-sur-sarthe,
Jean Francois Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz (1613-79) was a
France ;
churchman, writer of memoirs and an agitator during the Fronde.
From the collection of Frank Parker, Rome c.1860
His family were originally Florentine bankers who gained lands
and position in the entourage of Catherine de Medici and became
We are grateful to Arnauld Brejon de Lavergnée
and Pierre Rosenberg for their confirmation and
dating of the picture to Lefèbvre’s early years.
closely assimilated with the noble houses of France.
The Gondi family effectively controlled the then bishopric of Paris
from 1570 when Pierre Gondi became bishop. He was succeeded
by his nephews, Henri de Gondi and Jean-Francois de Gondi for
Lefèbvre joined the studio of Claude d’Hoey (1585-1660) at
whom the bishopric was raised to an archbishopric in 1622. Finally
Fontainebleau. In 1654 he was a pupil of Eustache Le Sueur in
Jean-Francois was succeeded by Pierre’s great nephew Jean Francois
Paris and in 1655 of Charles Le Brun. Under Le Brun’s direction he
Paul de Gondi, the subject of this portrait.
seems to have assisted with the cartoons (untraced) for the series of
tapestries illustrating the History of the King (Versailles, Château).
He appears to have executed a Nativity (untraced) for Louis XIV, but
Le Brun apparently considered his compositions weak and advised
him to specialize in portraiture; in 1663 he was received (reçu) as a
member by the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture with
his portrait of Jean-Baptiste Colbert (Versailles, Château). He was
an assistant professor at the Académie from 1664. At the height of
Despite his position, Jean Francois Paul did not gain preferment
from Cardinal Richelieu or Louis XIII. He had difficulty in attaining
the co-adjutorship with reversion of the archbishopric of Paris and
it was not until Louis XIII”s death that Anne of Austria appointed
him to this coveted position. In this position and with the support
of the populace, de Gondi agitated against Cardinal Mazarin in a
move that helped lead to the outbreak of the Fronde.
his fame he exhibited ten pictures (nine of which were portraits) at
In 1652 he was arrested and imprisoned but managed to escape in
the Salon of 1673. Apart from that of Colbert, Lefèbvre’s painted
1654 and made his way to Rome where he helped in the election of
portraits are now known only through the work of such engravers as
Alexander VII as Pope having been created a Cardinal by Innocent X
Gérard Edelinck, Nicolas de Poilly and Pierre-Louis van Schuppen.
in 1652. In 1662 he was reconciled with Louis XIV but was forced
Among works attributed to him on the basis of such evidence is the
to renounce his claim to the archbishopric and was compensated
portrait of Charles Couperin with the Artist’s Daughter (Versailles,
with the royal abbey of Saint Denis. His remaining years were spent
Château).
on frequent diplomatic missions to Rome on the kings’ behalf.
Robert Lefevre
(Bayeux 1755 - 1830 Paris)
Portrait of Madame Joseph Cornudet-Desprez and of her daughter
Oil on canvas
15 x 90 cm (45.2 x 35.4 in)
Signed and dated lower left: “Robt. Lefevre Fecit. 1803”
Bears an old inscription on the reverse: “Madame Joseph Cornudet-Desprez née Josephine Müller et sa fille future
amirale Baronne de Megnard de La Farge/Portrait par Robert Lefèvre 1803.”
Provenance
Private Collection, France
Robert Lefèvre was born in Bayeaux, Normandy. From an early
also of Vivant Denon who had accompanied Bonaparte during the
age, he had a talent for drawing but his father Jacques insisted on
expedition to Egypt (1798-1801). Denon was then appointed as
him to become a lawyer so had him placed with a procureur in
the director general of Museums and Administrator of the imperial
Caen. Lefèvre’s first sketches were as a result to be doodled on legal
art manufactories, and the first director of the Louvre Museum,
dossiers, drawing the lawyers’ clients.
which was at the time renamed as Musée Napoléon. Denon is
In 1773, at the age of eighteen, he spent his savings on a journey on
foot to Paris to see the works of the great masters. On his return to
Caen, Lefèvre abandoned the law and turned full time to painting.
Using the fees from his first works, he returned to Paris in 1784
to become the pupil of Jean-Baptiste Regnault (1754-1829) whose
major contemporary rival was Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825).
Although Regnault is described as a portraitist and history painter,
he owes much of his fame to mythological paintings, in which he
excelled. Lefèvre would have observed the contrast of light and shade
and the pure “Greek style” lines that reflect Regnault’s neoclassicism.
commemorated in the Denon Wing of the modern museum. As a
result of the patronage of Denon, Lefèvre were to paint forty portraits
of Napoleon, each slightly different, but all painted for members of
the great state bodies, for grand dignitaries or for imperial or foreign
towns. Napoleon liked Lefèvre’s portraits and found them very
lifelike (see fig. 1) As the painter to the emperor and the imperial
family, the court and the great dignitaries of imperial high society,
Lefèvre was in effect the official iconographer of the First Empire.
Lefèvre would also get commissions from foreign high society
members visiting Paris. One such example is portrait of Elizaveta
Demidova, wife of N. Demidov, the exceeding wealthy owner of
1803 was a turning point in Lefèvre’s career as he was commissioned
mines and foundaries in the Urals, Russia (see fig. 2). Lefèvre would
by Dominique Vivant Denon to paint Napoleon Bonaparte as the
have painted this work during her stay in Paris, sometime between
First Consul for the Hotel de Ville of Dunkirk (destroyed 1817).
1800 and 1805.
This commission was not only important because of the sitter but
The Hermitage, St, Petersburg
During this time Paris continued to be the world center of taste
Lefèvre also benefited from Napoleon’s position, as a favorite
and luxury but also of science and independent public opinion.
portraitist of the First Consul and his circle, and was made Chevalier
There was also a much larger and wealthier middle class than in
of the Légion d’honneur in 1820. Despite losing popular appeal
any previous period who were eager to have their status confirmed
after his death, in his lifetime Lefèvre’s portraits were sought after. It
through art. As a result, portraiture had become a popular genre that
is not accidental that Balzac, in his novel Cousine Bette (1846) wrote
even most accomplished history painters like Jacques-Louis David
of “the portrait of Hulot, painted by Robert Lefèvre in 1810, in the
were attracted to. Individual psychology was of great interest and the
uniform of the Commissaire ordonnateur of the Garde impériale,
portrait painter could play his part by exploring and expressing the
towered of the girl as she worked,” in Madame Hulot’s bedroom.
character of his sitters.
Fig. 1 Portrait of Napoleon I in his
Coronation Robes, 1812
Oil on canvas, 251.1 x 191.5 cm
Lefèvre lived and worked in Paris, 3 quai d’Orsay (today 1,
Commissioned portraits are often majestic and official, but in the
quai Anatole-France, 7th arrondissement). His apartment was
present examples of Lefèvre’s work, we see a worldly merchant
sumptuously decorated, including furniture by Boulle, and he had
Michael Elias Meyer, and Madame Joseph Cornudet-Desprez whose
many paintings, drawings and miniatures on the walls. He taught
husband was a lawyer and politician, supporting the Constitutional
painting and drawing to the great and the good of the Faubourg
Monarchy during the Revolution.
Painted in 1804 and 1803
Saint-Germain. In the last years of his life, he turned to religious
respectively, these portraits are from the high point of the artist’s
subjects. He was working on one such painting when the Revolution
career, representing the influence of Lefèvre’s teacher Regnault, and
of July 1830 took place, an event that was to deprive him of his
Jacques-Louis David and his use of Neoclassicism.
support and official posts. The same year he died aged 75 years old.
In the present painting Madame Joseph Cornudet-Desprez is
depicted wearing fashionable clothes, in relaxed informal pose,
situated in a domestic environment. The grandeur comes from
the sitters; their clothing and presence, as opposed to their neutral
surroundings. The charming Madame Joseph Cornudet-Desprez
is accompanied by one of her daughters, probably Marie-Adèle,
the future wife of Admiral Megnard de la Farge. Jeanne Cellier du
Montel (1768-1846) was the daughter of a captain in the Royalla-Marine regiment. In 1787, she married Joseph Cornudet des
Chaumettes (1755-1834) He was a partisan of the Constitutional
Monarcy under the Revolution and after taking part in the coup
d’état of 18 Brumaire, bringing Bonaparte to power as First Consul
of France, and was showered with honours during the Empire.
Fig. 2 Portrait of Elizaveta Demidova
Oil on canvas, 190 x 143 cm
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Claude Lorrain
(Champagne c.1604/5 - 1682 Rome)
A Pastoral Landscape with a dancing dog: Warm sunset atmosphere (thus mentioned in the sale catalogue
of 1784). The low sun from the left. An aqueduct in the distance. The sun from the left suggest cool morning.
Oil on copper, oval
38.5 x 52 cm (15.1 x 20.4 in)
Painted in 1647
Provenance
Comte de Merle, sale Paris 1784 (Paillet, 1 Mar., 13, to Paillet);
Brought to England by Mr. Bertels,of Brussels;
Sold to Wm. Smith (acc. to the engraving of 1807; exh. B.I. 1818, 74);
Lord Radstock; His attempted sales in 1823 (Phillips, 19 April); 1826 (Christie’s 12 May, Lot 43);
Lent to Staffordshire Country War Organization Treasure Sale, 1941
Consigned to Thomas Agnew’s where bought by the Earl of Dartmouth, 1959
Thence by descent
Exhibited
British Institute, 1828, 7;
Manchester, 1857, 651;
Leeds, 1868, 377;
Royal Academy, 1879, 120;
Leeds, 1889;
Guildhall, 1892, 104;
Royal Academy, 1938, 335;
London, The Arts Council exh., The Art of Claude Lorrain, n. 20, 1975;
Munich, Haus der Kunst, n. 15, 1975-6.
Literature
Connaissance des Arts, Jan. 1959, 50 f., repr.
Roethlisberger, M., Claude Lorrain: The Paintings, London, 1961, p. 466, n. 205
Engraved
Middiman and J. Pye, in Forster’s British Gallery of Engravings, 1807 (belonging to Smith).
The composition is intimately related to works of 1646-7 (n. 110, n. 104. 103 in Roethlisberger, M., Claude
Lorrain: The Paintings, London, 1961). The motif of the dancing dog is anticipated in n. 90; apart from this the
figure group is closer to that in n. 104). See figs. 2, 3, 4, 5.
Claude Gellée was born in the Duchy of Lorraine, hence his
Fig. 1 Claude Lorrain, A Wooded Landscape, pen and brown ink,
nickname, but left around 1612 for Germany, then Rome, where
brown wash heightened with white on paper, brown ink framing
he became a studio assistant to the landscape artist, Agostino
lines was sold at Christie’s New York, 31st January 2013, lot 122 for
Tassi. Lorrain visited Naples and returned to Nancy before settling
6,130,500 USD
permanently in Rome around 1628. He sketched in the Roman
countryside with Poussin. Ideas from the drawings he made were
integrated into oil paintings finished in the studio. Claude recorded his compositions in drawings, in the ‘Liber Veritatis’ (Book of
Truth), now in the British Museum, perhaps to prevent pastiches
being sold. Scottish and English aristocrats on the 18th-century
Grand Tour of Italy bought many of his works; a number in the
Fig. 2 Dresden Gemaldegalerie (Roethlisberger, n. 110)
Fig. 4 The Lady Dunsany, London (Roethlisberger n. 103)
Collection come from such sources. Claude was influenced by other northern painters who had worked in Rome, such as Elsheimer.
He was also influenced by the Bolognese artists Annibale Carracci
and Domenichino, who evolved the balanced classical landscapes
he used.
This pastoral scene was typical of Lorrain, who often presented
figures within his landscapes. Here, the group in the foreground
has settled on the bank as their herd of cattle drink from the water
nearby. A seated figure provides the music for the dancing girl and
dog, playing merrily into a woodwind instrument. A child looks on
beside him and the standing figure at the back of the group leans
on a wooden staff; presumably to aid in walking and herding the
cattle. The picturesque scene is framed by stone architecture, which
Fig. 3 Nivaagaard, Denmark, Hage Gallery (Roethlisberger, n.
heightens the romanticized vision of the Roman campagna that
104)
Lorrain presented to urbane collectors in his landscapes. Furthermore, the aqueduct in the distance is redolent of the engineering
accomplishments of the Ancient Romans, whose inventions were
a source of admiration for those on the Grand Tour. The composition and subject matter of Lorrain’s veduta is an exemplary
representation of the preoccupation with Ancient Rome and the
Roman Campagna that prevailed at the time.
Fig. 5 Birmingham, City Museum and Art Gallery (Roethlisberger
n. 90)
Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg
(Strasbourg 1740 - 1812 London)
View of St Briavels Castle, Gloucestershire
Oil on canvas
69 x 107 cm (27.1 x 41.1 in)
Signed and dated 1806
Provenance
The Earl of Ranfurly, Maltings Chase, Nayland, Essex;
His sale, Christie’s London July 31st 1939, lot 135 (as a pair with A Mill Stream, with horsemen, figures and cattle,
signed and dated 1806) for £25 and 4s to Nicholson.
Exhibited
Loutherbourg (Strasbourg 1740- London 1812): Torments and Chimeras, Exhibition at the Musée des Beaux-Arts
in Strasbourg, 17 November 2012 until 18 February 2013.
Literature
Olivier Lefeuvre, Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg, Paris, 2012, cat. no. 296, pp. 318-319 and p. 126
In 1786 Loutherbourg returned from a trip to Wales where he
The present canvas, much less romantic in its conception, was at one
the end of the medieval period, although the keep had been demol-
1781 he became a member of the Royal Academy. Loutherbourg
had made numerous sketches of the principle picturesque sights of
time also paired with another landscape (see provenance) which was
ished in the mid 18th century. Engravings from the 18th and early
was to become an accomplished military painter, as well as an en-
the country, including many of its most famous monuments (The
dated 1806. The artist was certainly still famous for exactly this type
19th century show the castle very much as Loutherbourg painted it,
graver. He died in London in 1812.
sketches from that trip containing some sixty nine drawings is in the
of painting, having produced a book of engravings The Picturesque
with encroaching forest and cattle.
collection of the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth). These
and Romantic scenery of England and Wales just the year before.
were used to compose a number of views of the Welsh landscape,
which he appears to have begun to paint immediately upon his return showing three views in Wales in the Royal Academy of the
following year. Loutherbourgh continued to produce such images
throughout his career even showing a pendant pair of Harlech Castle and Conway Castle in the Academy show of 1801. Those paintings, which depict the citadels perched over a choppy sea, clearly
show the influence of Vernet.
Jacques Philippe de Loutherbourg was born in Strasbourg and be-
Traditionally this view has been called a view of Harlech castle, an
gan his career as a pupil of his father, the famous miniaturist Jacques
error dating back to before its sale in 1939. Recent research has now
Philippe Loutherbourg the Elder. Later he was apprenticed to
shown it to be St Briavels castle in Gloucestershire. Its location, close
Tischbein and Casanova and was to become a very accomplished
to the historic Welsh Marches above the river Wye on the edge of
landscape and animal painter. In 1768 he was elected a member of
the Forest of Dean, the impressive gatehouse and its romantic nature
the Academy in Paris and later was appointed Court painter to the
must have appealed to Loutherbourg as he journeyed to or from
King. However in 1771 he decided to move to England where he
Wales. At the time the castle continued to be in use as a court and
was soon much appreciated and in great demand. One of his earliest
debtors prison and had therefore remained in reasonable repair since
commissions was for the decoration of the Drury Lane Theatre. In
Pierre Mignard
(Troyes 1612 - 1695 Paris)
Portrait of a Lady, half length in a blue dress with a gold shawl said to be Mademoiselle Vertue Lamer
Oil on copper, oval
22 x 16.5 cm
(8 11/16 x 6 ½ in)
Inscribed by the hand of the artist with the date Wednesday 11th March 1671:
‘Mademoiselle Vestre Lainée/ le mercredi onzieme de mars/ mil six cent soixante e onze’
Provenance
Private Collection, UK
Known as “Le Romain” to distinguish him from his artist broth-
tinued to gain commissions from the King and the court and on Le
er and nephew, Mignard was one of the most successful painters
Brun’s death in 1690 he succeeded to all his rivals’ positions.
during the glory years of Louis XIV’s reign. Commissions from the
King and leading members of the court testify to this success and
have left us a valuable record of the “Sun King’s” court.
In 1627 Mignard joined the studio of Simon Vouet in Paris having
begun his training in his native Troyes. As with any French artist
with ambition at this time, he moved to Rome in 1636 where he
studied the works of Correggio and Pietro da Cortona and in the
ensuing twenty-two years his reputation resulted in a summons back
to France and work for the court.
The towering figure of Fench art in this period was Charles Le Brun,
and Mignard refused to join the Academy, of which Le Brun was
the head, and indeed he opposed its authority. Despite this he con-
This charming portrait on copper ably demonstrates Mignard’s talent at capturing the opulent self-assuredness of the period. The sitter
is attired in luxurious silks and large pearls hang from her ears and
around her neck.
The Lamer family had its origins in Burgundy but by the end of the
17th century they are to be found in the Medoc region where they
became important local officers of the crown and they would have
been frequently at court.
Jean-Baptiste Pater
(Valenciennes 1695 - 1736 Paris)
Halte de Chasse
Oil on canvas
56 x 47 cm (22.04 x 18.5 in)
Provenance
Laurent Richard, his sale 7th April 1873 lot 42;
Comte A. de Camondo, his sale 1893 lot 19;
With Gimpel, Paris, 1900;
George Crocker;
His sister Mrs B. Alexander 1928;
Her grandson, Charles S. Whitehouse,
New York 1935;
By family descent
Pater was born in Valenciennes to the sculptor Antoine Pater
who was also his earliest teacher before he studied under the
artist Jean-Baptiste Guide. In 1713 he briefly became the pupil of
Watteau, and although they did not initially get on the artist had a
Exhibited
profound influence on him.
Paris, Palais-Bourbon, Exposition en faveur des
Alsaciens-Lorrains de l’Algerie, 1874 no. 381;
Many of Paters works are in the popular Rococo genre of the fete
San Francisco, Palace of the Legion of Honour, Fifteen
galante, combining a traditional palette to these scenes of courtship
Masters of the Eighteenth Century, 1928 no. 2346;
very much influenced by Watteau who had indeed invented the
New York, World’s Fair, Masterpieces of Art, 1939
genre. His most prominent patron was Frederick the Great who
cat. no. 214
commissioned not only the typical fete galante but also portraits as
well as landscapes.
Literature
The present work is one of 18 hunting subjects identified by
F. Ingersoll-Smouse, L’Art Francais Collection Dirigee
Ingersoll-Smouse that form a distinct group within the artists’
par Georges Wildenstein: Pater, Paris 1921,
oeuvre. While combining all the elements of a typical Rococo work
no 379, p. 67, ill. fig. 182, p.197
the subject matter itself was a departure. Indeed in 1736 he was
commissioned by Louis XV to produce a Chasse Chinoise for the
A drawing by the artist in sanguine chalk, representing
Petite Galerie du Roi at Versailles where it formed part of a group
the servant on the left uncorking a bottle, was in the
of 6 paintings based around hunting by the days leading artists and
collection of Monsieur Alvin-Beaumont, Paris, in 1921
reflecting Louis XV’s obsession with the hunt.
Jean-Baptiste Pillement
(Lyon 1728 - 1808 Lyon)
Chinoiserie, a couple on a boat departing from a shore where a child stands
Oil on canvas
240 x 213 cm
Painted early 1750s
Engraved by Pierre-Charles Canot in 1759
Provenance
David Garrick, actor, Fuller House by the river Thames at Hampton, London;
Galerie Gildas Guédel, Paris;
Private Collection, Mme Romignac
Literature
M. Gordon-Smith, ‘The influence of Jean Pillement on French and English Decorative Art’,
Artibus et Historiae, n. 41.
M. Gordon-Smith, Pillement, Cracovie, 2006, pp. 54-55, fig. 36, ill.
This elegant large scale chinoiserie adorned the living room
one, are featured in Pillement’s designs for Allégories des Douze
of Fuller House at Hampton on Thames, the residence of the
Mois de l’Année, 1759, and Scènes Chinoises, also from 1759.
famous Shakespearean actor David Garrick (1717-1779). Garrick
bought Fuller House in 1755 and commissioned Robert Adam
and Thomas Chippendale to transform the house and redecorate.
Lancelot “Capability” Brown was employed to design the gardens.
It was the actor Charles Leviez, the leading promoter, collector and
exporter of Pillement’s work that introduced the artist to David
Garrick. According to the inventory of Fuller House upon Garrick’s
Delicately painted in the style for which Pillement became renowned,
this extensive canvas displays a European representation of an idyllic
China. It is a fantastical composition and an excellent example of
chinoiserie. This genre of painting was very much admired during
the eighteenth century and became very popular. Such canvases were
commissioned as wall hangings within illustrious private residences. death, the drawing room was “fitted up entirely in the Chinese
Jean-Baptiste Pillement’s graceful framing at the painting’s outer
taste”. It included a group of six large chinoiserie wall panels, which
edges serves not only as decorative function but also as a device by
included amongst them the present panel. It was subsequently
which to draw attention towards the centre of the scene, where we
the shore. The charming asymmetrical format - typical of the genre
the composition. Distinctly non-European architectural structures
engraved with a few differences in 1759 by Pierre-Charles Canot.
witness an exchange between two adults and a small boy. His hands
- combined with the curious curling vegetation suggests something
further distinguish the enchanting Orient from Western civilisation,
Published in 1758, the Livre de Chinois featured four of the panels
are outstretched imploringly, the adults’ attention turned towards
of the untamed. The apparent translucence of the water-filled
amidst a palette of soft olive and earthy tones, muted reds and
from this series. The additional two panels, including the present
him in a rather detached manner as the wooden vessel begins to leave
areas of this picturesque setting lends a dream-like iridescence to
occasional touches of mild, glowing blues.
Pierre-Paul Prud’hon
From 1783-4 he returned to Dijon in order to compete for the Prix
(Cluny 1758 - Paris 1823)
de Rome, which he duly won. Rome was to prove pivotal to his
development and subsequent success. Between 1784 and 1788 he
Apollo and the Muses on Mount Parnassus
was able to immerse himself in the art of the Eternal city and indeed
to make important contacts, most notably with Canova. In Rome
Oil on canvas
54.5 x 64 cm (21.4 x 25.1 in)
Provenance
Baron d’Olonne Paris;
With Matthiesen Ltd, London 1956;
he was to prove assiduous in his study of the Renaissance masters
and his overriding admiration of Leonardo is clearly expressed in
his correspondence, although his contemporaries were to dub him
France’s Correggio. This period was certainly to influence the way
he viewed allegory and mythology and its lasting effect can be seen
throughout his work in the years to come.
With Paul Drey Gallery, New York;
After his return from Rome his reputation gradually increased
Dr. Claus Virch Collection, New York
despite the political upheavals that were erupting in France. He was
much admired as a portraitist, gaining patrons and consequently
Literature
expanding his oeuvre. Always aspiring to be a history painter, he
Jean Guiffrey: L’oeuvre de Pierre-Paul Prud’hon, in
provided designs for what has been termed the golden age of book
Archives de L’Art Francias. vol. XIII, Paris, 1924 p.
illustration, and although relatively unknown he was sought out by
36-38
the publisher Pierre Didot expressly for this purpose.
for a discussion of the drawings related to this
picture and the other version now in Dijon;
Advertisement supplement, The Burlington Magazine,
vol. 98, no. 639 June 1956 where reproduced as
plate VI
Finally, during the Empire of Napoleon, Prudh’on would find
the greatest favour of all from the Imperial court itself. This was
the period of his grand portraits such as “Empress Josephine at
Malmaison” and “Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigourd” as well
as large scale mythological paintings such as “Psyche carried off by
the Zephyrs”. He had previously shown a sure eye for decoration
in a number of projects but he was now able to create independent
Prud’hon’s talent manifested itself early. As a young boy he was taken
works on a large scale. His position was sealed in 1810 when he was
under the wing of Devosge, director of the drawing school in Dijon,
appointed drawing master to the new Empress, Marie Louise.
who recommended him to his first major patron, the baron de
Joursanvault. As early as 1780 we can see the young artist applying
his delight in allegory and the classical world in his “Apotheosis of
Baron Joursanvault” (Dijon, musee des beaux-arts). Joursanvault
sponsored Prud’hon’s move to Paris and he spent 3 years (1780-83)
visiting galleries and churches and enrolling in the Academie Royale
although we know from his letters that he much preferred to work
alone at home.
The restoration of the Bourbon monarchy did not mark a fall from
favour, and indeed Prud’hon was called upon to help create the
official representation of the restored monarchy. He produced even
more portraits, and at the very end of his life he was commissioned
Throughout his career, Prud’hon never adhered to any one artistic
became symbolic during the Renaissance of the re birth of knowledge.
movement. He was classical and romantic, looked to the Renaissance
Prud’hon would have seen many Renaissance interpretations of this,
and yet remained contemporary. Much of this was due to his
from Raphael in Rome to Mantegna in Paris.
exceptional skill as a draughtsman. Mainly working directly from
nature, he produced many memorable images that remain much
admired today.
by the state to produce what has become one of his most famous
works, “Christ on the Cross” for the cathedral at Strasbourg (Paris,
Musee du Louvre).
Apollo and the Muses on Mount Parnassus would certainly have
appealed to Prud’hon as a subject. In essence the scene encompasses
the ideals of classical learning through word and music and as such it
The present sketch is remarkable in the vivacity of the figures, the
bold under drawing being clear in many passages. Drawings of
individual groups of figures for this composition exist in a private
collection and were illustrated in Guiffrey’s 1924 monograph (fig.1)
Louise Aimee Ribot
Daughter of Theodule Augustin Ribot, Louise Aimee specialised
(French, 19th century)
in genre paintings, flower pictures and still life. She was born in
Fontenay-aux-Roses, and first exhibited at the Salon in Paris in
Still Life with Bread, Bowls and a Bottle of Wine
1877. Taught by her father she developed a realist style very much
in keeping with his.
Oil on canvas
The inscription refers to the French realist painter François Bonvin
32.5 x 40.5 cm (12 ¾ 16 in)
whose own style placed him in the group of artists to which her
Signed and inscribed: a mon ami Bonvin
father belonged. The present work was clearly a very personal gift
from the artist to a close friend of the family. The present painting
Figure 1: Euterpe and Polhymnia. Terpsichore and Erato, Private
collection
Indeed these drawings were then copied by Boilly (fig.2) and were
subsequently published as lithographs (fig.3).
Figure 3: Terpsichore and Erato, Lithograph
In terms of Prud’hon’s oeuvre, the present work is reminiscent of a
number of allegorical and decorative schemes he produced in the
period following his return from Rome. The decoration of the Hotel
de Lannoy is the most famous of these schemes and was intended as
a full cycle representing in essence the liberal arts through classical
models. This work was followed by a period in which he expressed
the aims and ambitions of the revolution in a series of allegories
deeply rooted in the classical past.
Dr Christoph Vogtherr, on examining the picture, has proposed that
it could be a modello for a theatre curtain. Set designs were certainly
produced by major artists and during the Napoleonic period such
spectacles were as expected as the lavish court ceremonies that were
staged throughout the reign.
Figure 2: Terpsichore and Erato, drawing Musee de Louvre;
There is a 19th century copy of the work in the Musee des Beaux Arts
in Dijon, at one time attributed to Prud’hon it was already viewed as
a copy in the early years of the last century.
Provenance
is known to Mr Gabe Weisberg, who confirms the attribution to
Collection of François Bonvin, 1887
Louise Ribot.
Hubert Robert
We are indebted to Joseph Baillio who dates this canvas to the artist’s
very early period in Rome circa 1756/9. It is from this period when
the artist had only just established himself as a painter in Rome, that
Capriccio with a Dove Seller
this masterpiece was painted. It may have formed part of a series
of four Real Views of Antique Rome with a genre motif, which he
Oil on canvas
probably painted as a present for the Marquis de Marigny.
72 x 60 cm (28 ¼ x 23 ¼ in)
This work is stylistically related to the Robert juvenilia that were
Circa 1756/9
published in the 1920s by Pierre de Nolhac (“Les premieres oeuvres
In a Louis XV carved hollow frame
romaines d’Hubert Robert,” Renaissance de L’Art Farncais et des
Industries de Luxe, January 1923, pp. 27-33) and Herman Voss
Provenance
(“Opere giovanili di Hubert Robert in gallerie italiane,” Dedalo,
Possibly Marquis de Marigny, Minister of Fine Arts
vol. VIII, 1928, pp. 743 -751), Another vedúta of this type is in the
to Louis XV;
Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica Rome (see Luigi Salermo, l pittori
Georges Wildenstein, Paris, 1920s;
de vedute in Italia, 1580-1830, Rome, 1991, p. 170, fig. 48.4).
Wakkonig Collection, Bilbao, Spain
In his monograph on Robert, Jean Cailleux notes that this type of
picture dates from the earliest years of Robert’s stay in Rome, i.e.
slightly after his arrival in 1754 (see Jean de Cayeaux with the assistance of Catherine Boulot, Hubert Robert, Paris, 1989, p.40).
Hubert Robert was born in Paris in 1733, the son of a Steward in the
the Académie de France, a signal privilege for an aspiring artist
household of the Marquis de Choiseul-Stainville; the representative
who had never even competed for the Prix de Rome. Under the
of the Duc de Lorraine at the French Court. From birth Robert could
paternal guidance of the school’s director, Charles Joseph Natoire,
rely on the protection of the powerful and influential Choiseul clan.
he followed the traditional path of the students, which included
It was first decided that he would enter the clergy. Between 1745
copying from antiquity. By September of 1759 the progress he had
and 1751 he studied at the College de Navarre, where he acquired
made encouraged Louis XV’s Minister of the Fine Arts, the Marquis
a solid grounding in the classics. Whereas the boy showed no signs
de Marigny, to make him an official pensionnaire. A tireless worker,
of a religious vocation, he did reveal a decided talent for les arts du
Robert recorded in innumerable drawings and oil sketches; the
dessin, and for a short time he seems to have trained as an apprentice
topography of Rome, Naples and their environs, the remnants of
in the studio of the Flemish born sculptor Michel-Ange Slodtz.
ancient civilizations, as well as many aspects of Italian contemporary
In late 1754 the twenty-one year old Robert joined the large retinue
accompanying the Marquis de Stainville, the son and heir of his
Father’s old employer, on his mission to Rome as ambassador to
the court of Pope Benedict XIV. Stainville’s sponsorship removed
many hurdles in Robert’s path; he was given room and board at
life. Throughout his long and prolific career, the artist would glean
much of the imagery of his paintings from these early studies. His
work at this stage betrays the strong influence of Italy’s foremost
pittore di vedute, Gian Paolo Panini, the Acadamie’s master of
perspective.
Derek Johns Ltd,
12 Duke Street, St James’s,
SW1Y 6BN, London
T: 0207 839 7671
E: [email protected]

Derek Johns Old Master Paintings

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