Master Works on Paper from Five Centuries

Master Works on Paper from Five Centuries

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 30. Portrait of a Gentleman with a fur toque wearing a robe de chambre (?).

The Art of Pastel: A Swiss Private Collection

French School, 18th Century

Portrait of a Gentleman with a fur toque wearing a robe de chambre (?)

Auction Closed

January 25, 04:44 PM GMT

Estimate

10,000 - 15,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

The Art of Pastel: A Swiss Private Collection

French School, 18th Century

Portrait of a Gentleman with a fur toque wearing a robe de chambre (?)


Pastel

660 by 440 mm; 26 by 17 ⅜in.

Mlle Georgina Burch (b. 1870), 1927;
Prof. Paul Leonhard Ganz, Hilterfingen;
sale, Zurich, Galerie Koller, 12-13 November 1976, lot 5269 (as Maurice Quentin de Latour),
where acquired by Jacques-Louis Isoz

Quentin de La Tour et des Pastellistes Français des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, Paris, Hôtel Jean Charpentier, 1927, no. 145, pl. LXVIII-97 (as Maurice Quentin de La Tour, Portrait d'homme en manteau bleu).

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Quentin de La Tour et des Pastellistes Français des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, Paris, Hôtel Jean Charpentier, 1927, n° 145, pl. LXVIII-97 (comme Maurice Quentin de La Tour, Portrait d'homme en manteau bleu).


P. Jamot, Bulletin de l’art, .VII.–.VIII.1927, p. 109;
Revue de l’art, .IX.– .X.1927, LII, 192, attr. to Vivien;
N. Jeffares, Dictionary of pastellists before 1800, London 2006, p. 593, reproduced / online edition, no. J.9.3166 

The present portrait of un unknown sitter was attributed in the past to Joseph Vivien (1657-1734) and to Maurice Quentin de La Tour (1704-1788).


The handling of the media is varied and particularly free. It is an ambitious portrait, executed by of a very skillful pastellist. The artist focuses also on the different texture of the fabrics, the beautiful blue velvet contrasting with the fur and the white shirt, with a black silk ribbon. The light falls from the left and the suffused grey background enables the viewer to capture the sitter's serene expression.