Angélique LEVOL MONGEZ (1775-1855) - Lot 440

Angélique LEVOL MONGEZ (1775-1855) Presumed portrait of Charles de Choiseul, Duke of Praslin Oil on canvas, signed and dated 183(8)? lower left, Rey color merchant's mark on reverse. H. 88 cm - L. 76 cm HVS Period frame Angélique Levol Mongez was a pupil of Jean-Baptite Regnault (1754-1829) and Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825), the latter of whom painted her portrait now in the Musée du Louvre (1812, inv. no. MI 145). She made her debut at the Salon of 1802 with an ambitious history painting, "Astyanax torn from his mother" (unlocated), and exhibited there regularly until 1827. Her last consignment, "Les sept chefs devant Thèbes", is in the Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Angers (inv. no. MBA J 140 (J1881)P). A portraitist, she exhibited a "Portrait de femme" at the Salon of 1806 and is famous for her portrait of King Louis XVIII, now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Tours (inv. no. 1815-1-1). Angélique Levol Mongez is a shining example of those women who, in the wake of the Revolution, embraced a career in the arts, like the Lemoine sisters. Charles de Choiseul-Praslin (1805-1847) was a politician and Peer of France, who committed suicide in prison in 1847 after murdering his wife with several stab wounds. This event dominated the headlines during the final years of the July Monarchy, discrediting the political class and paving the way for the February 1848 revolution.