Master Paintings and Drawings

Marie-Madeleine, Marquise de Verdelin

Portrait of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), in profile, in a fur hat with tassels and a fur-trimmed coat

Lot Closed

March 23, 04:37 PM GMT

Estimate

1,000 - 1,500 USD

Lot Details

Description

Marie-Madeleine, Marquise de Verdelin

1728 - 1810

Portrait of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), in profile, in a fur hat with tassels and a fur-trimmed coat

Red and black chalk within a drawn black chalk oval; signed or bears attribution in black chalk, below the oval: Marquise de Verdelin and also bears a largely illegible inscription with date: 1764 (?), in black chalk, verso

224 by 168 mm; 8 ¾ by 6 ⅝ in

A. Poulet-Malassis (1825-1878),
given to Charles-Philippe Marquis de Chennevieres (1820-1899), Paris and Bellesme (L.2073) (P. De Chennevières, Une collection de Dessins d'Artistes Français, chap. XI, p. 350),
his sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 4-7 April 1900, no. 499 ('Portrait de Jean-Jacques Rousseau de profil et coiffé d'un bonnet de fourrure. Au crayon rehaussé d'aquarelle. Sur la meme feuille: Le portrait de M^lle de Lomenie de profile et un costume d'homme par M^r le Ch^er de Boufflers, à la mine de plomb. Deux dessins'),
bought by Roblin for 12 Francs

L-A. Prat and L. Lhinares, La Collection Chennevières: Quatre siècles de dessins Français, Musée du Louvre, Paris 2007, pp. 127, 356 and 715, cat. no. 513

The Marquise de Verdelin was a loyal friend of the great Swiss writer and philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Details of their friendship are discussed in his autobiography, Confessions, published in 1782.