Élisabeth VIGÉE-LEBRUN (Paris 1755 - 1842) - Lot 28

Élisabeth VIGÉE-LEBRUN (Paris 1755 - 1842) Portrait of the Comte de Provence (1755-1795), in 1776 Pastel on paper mounted on canvas, oval form H. 70 cm - L. 58 cm Signed and dated lower right "1776". Provenance: family collection, France Bibliography: Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, Souvenirs 1755-1842, Paris, Éditions Honoré Champion, 2008, page 333 in the section "Liste des tableaux et portraits" for the year 1776, "12, Monsieur, frère du roi". Exhibition catalog "Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun" edited by Joseph Baillio and Xavier Salmon, Paris, Grand Palais, 2015-2016, ed. RMN, pp. 38-40 Joseph Baillio, Paul Lang, Katharine Baetjer, "Élisabeth Louise Vigée Lebrun, Ottawa, 2016, p. 241 Neil Jeffares, Online edition - Pastels & pastellists, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, n°J.76.3505 Related works: Two oval drawings of the Count of Provence and his wife, dated 1777, held at Windsor Castle (see opus quoted above, repr. Fig1 and 2 p. 38) In her Livre de raison, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun notes that in 1776 she painted the portrait of Monsieur, the King's brother. This was her first official commission, before a long and famous series of effigies of the royal family. It is highly probable that this was a series of pastels, of which our copy is the first to emerge. It's fair to say that she became something of a favorite painter, since she reissued a version in 1778 and 1781, as well as two portraits of "Madame, femme de Monsieur, frère du Roi" in 1778. In 1782, she produced a pair of oil portraits of Monsieur and Madame (private collection; catalog of the exhibition "Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun" curated by Joseph Baillio and Xavier Salmon, Paris, Grand Palais, 2015-2016, ed. RMN, cat 45 and 46, repr.). Correspondence from the Count of Provence's intendant Cromot du Bourg, also mentions a full-length portrait in 1783 (opus cited supra, p.40). Although she describes the Comte de Provence in her Souvenirs after those concerning the Queen, whose famous portrait she painted in 1779, the 1776 commission places the Comte de Provence as a precursor. In his youth, this affable, cultured man developed a taste for the avant-garde arts, and was particularly passionate about architecture and the decorative arts at his château in Brunoy, decorated by Bellanger and Dugourc. Had it not been for the Revolution, he would have appeared to us as an enlightened spirit of his time. Although he lacked the character of a leader, he nevertheless had the keen eye of a great patron of the arts. Here is Elisabeth Vigée-Le Brun's portrait of him: "The portrait I have painted of Monsieur gave me the opportunity to get to know a prince whose wit and education could be praised without flattery; it was impossible not to enjoy Louis XVIII's conversation, as he talked about everything with as much taste as knowledge. However, sometimes, no doubt for variety, he would sing to me during our sessions, songs that were not indecent, but so common that I couldn't understand how such nonsense reached the court. He had the fakest voice in the world. - How do you like my singing, Madame Le Brun?" he said to me one day. - Like a prince, Monseigneur," I replied. The Marquis de Montesquiou, Monsieur's grand écuyer, sent me a beautiful six-horse carriage to take me to Versailles and back with my mother, whom I had asked to accompany me. All along the way, people stood at the windows to watch me go by, and everyone took off their hats; I laughed at these tributes paid to the six horses and the pikeman who ran in front, because when I got back to Paris, I got into a carriage, and nobody looked at me anymore." This passage shows that Elisabeth Vigée, who became Madame Le Brun in January 1776, was treated with the utmost respect by the Count of Provence. We also note that she was accompanied by her mother in a chaperon, even though she was recently married. She was young, beautiful and witty, and the sessions were numerous: it was easy to imagine the amiable Louis-Stanislas-Xavier de France, born in the same year, and if not under the same sign, under the same spell... We would like to thank Joseph Baillio for confirming the authenticity of this work. A certificate will be given to the buyer at the end of the sale.