Maurice-Quentin de la Tour

With Paul Cailleux, Paris, by 1922;
With Foulkes and Co., Paris, 1928;
Sir Robert Abdy, Paris;
Camile Plantevignes, Paris, 1935;
Mr. Rossignol, Paris;
Anonymous sale, Versailles, Palais de Congrès, June 8, 1974, lot 39, sold for 24,000 francs;
Anonymous sale, Monte Carlo, Ader Picard Tajan,  November 11, 1984, lot 4, sold for 4,400,000 francs;
There purchased by the present owner. 

Paris, Salon de l'Académie Royal de Peinture et Sculpture, 1742, no. 130;
Paris, Musée du Louvre, Salle des Pastels de Saint-Quentin, 1922;
Paris, L'Art Français au service de la Science, April-May 1923, no. 23;
Paris, Galerie Cailleux, Un Choix de Pastels des Maîtres du XVIII Siècle, June 1923, no. 6;
Copenhagen, Charlottenberg Palace, Exposition de l'art Français au XVIII Siècle, August 25 - October 10, 1935, no. 275;
New York, Colnaghi, The French Portrait 1550 -1850, January 10 - February 10, 1996, no. 94;
Versailles, Musée national des châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon, Le Voleur d'âmes: Maurice Quentin de La Tour, September 13 - December, 2004, no. 53.

L'Illustration, June 1921;
"Trois portraits de Jacques-Jean Dumont, dit le Romain, peintre et graveur, par Maurice Quentin De La Tour," in La Renaissance de l'Art Française et des Industries de Luxe, vol. V, July-December 1921, pp. 660-1, reproduced p. 661;
E. Fleury, "Two Newly-Discovered La Tours," in The Burlington Magazine, vol. 40, no. 226, January 1922, pp. 26-31, reproduced;
A. Besnard and G. Wildenstein, La Tour, Paris 1928, p. 140, cat. no. 117;
E. Fleury, Catalogue des pastels de M. Q. de la Tour:  collection de Saint-Quentin et Musée du Louvre, Paris 1920, p. 69;
A. Wintermute and D. Garstang, The French Portrait 1550-1850, exhibition catalogue, New York 1996, pp. 42, 94-95, reproduced pl. 9, p. 43;
C. Debrie and X. Salmon, Maurice-Quentin de La Tour Prince des Pastellistes, Paris 2000, pp. 204-6, cat. no. 119, reproduced, pp. 204, 206;
X. Salmon, Le Voleur d'âmes: Maurice Quentin de La Tour, exhibition catalogue, Versailles 2004, pp. 186-7, cat. no. 53, reproduced p. 187, fig. 53;
N. Jeffares, Dictionary of pastellists before 1800, London 2006, p. 288, reproduced in color.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This work is essentially in perfect condition. The paper is mounted onto linen which in turn is stretched over a stretcher. These three elements seem to all be original and undamaged. The pastel layer of the artwork also seems to be in perfect condition with no losses or diminishment of the paint layer at all. The work has most likely been behind glass since it was created; it is in particularly good condition and should be hung as is.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

One of the greatest pastellists of the eighteenth century, Maurice-Quentin de La Tour is known as much for his insight into the character of his sitters as for his remarkable command of his medium.  Shunning the rigid formulae of an earlier generation, he sought to engage his sitters, portraying them as living human beings rather than icons.  Many of his most successful and striking portraits are those of his fellow artists, like this Portrait of Jacques Dumont le Romain Playing the Guitar.  Dumont (1701-1781) was from a long line of sculptors, but was himself known primarily as a history painter.  He earned the soubriquet Le Romain because he had studied in Rome as a young man but returned to France in 1725 to begin a successful career.  He was accepted to the Academy in 1736 and at the time of this portrait was a Professor there; he was later named Honorary Director. 

La Tour's portrait is a remarkable example of the artist's skill in revealing his subject's personality and character.   He shows Dumont apparently at ease in his studio, a scarf wrapped casually round his head, and strumming a guitar.   He appears completely relaxed, but engaged, as he stares to the right at something or someone outside our field of vision.  Perhaps he is looking at an another musician or a singer whom he is accompanying.  La Tour captures all in this in his sensitive delineation of the face. He lays in rich strokes of white over the rosier flesh tones to clarify its structure and more delicate tones of gray to suggest the traces of beard.  As for the clothing, La Tour renders these in bolder strokes, showing how the stunning red waistcoat is strained across Dumont's waist, the brilliant white cuffs of the blouse escape from his jacket sleeves.   

Unlike his contemporaries Chardin and Perronneau, La Tour never worked in oils, but confined himself exclusively to the extraordinarily expressive and luminous yet fragile medium of pastel.  But despite the apparent ease with which he created his pastels, La Tour was an extremely methodical worker and approached his portraits in stages.  He frequently began with a rapid sketch of the face.  In the case of the Portrait of Dumont le Romain a preliminary sketch, which is now in the Cleveland Museum of Art  (see fig. 1), is boldly drawn in black and white chalks, with touches of red pastel, to indicate the main features of the face and the sitter's expression.  From this he could begin to elaborate his finished portrait, though he made significant changes, especially in the arrangement of the head scarf.  La Tour later used this same sketch again as the basis for a second portrait of Dumont, now in the Louvre. There he is seated at his desk with his palette in his hand and wears a scarf that  more closely repeats that of the preparatory drawing.  This second pastel was exhibited at the Salon in 1748 to great acclaim, but was reworked by the artist himself between 1775 and 1780, and ruined.  The present portrait is thus the prime and only true representation of Dumont le Romain.  Although we have found no descriptions before its rediscovery in 1921, it has since been recognized as one of La Tour's masterpieces.