Antoine Dubost

Possibly Thomas Broadwood Esq.;
Royal Victoria Yacht Club, Ryde, Isle of Wight, sold 1965, according to a label on on the reverse;
Anonymous sale, London, Bonhams, 6 July 1995, lot 254.

Paris, Le Salon, 1799, pp. 17-18, no. 84;
Royal Academy, 1807, no. 268.

R.E. Spear, 'Antoine Dubost's "Sword of Damocles" and Thomas Hope: an Anglo-French skirmish' in The Burlington Magazine, vol cxlviii, no. 1241, 2006, pp. 520-522, 526-527.

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The old lining has degraded and the paint is raised and very unstable. Significant restoration can be detected to areas where vulnerable glazes and scumbles have been compromised, over the top of an earlier discoloured varnish; some of these are excessive and imprecise. There is a prevalence of pale shrinkage cracks which have broken up the image. Many areas of paint is in good condition with fine details intact. Removing the discoloured varnish would improve the tonality. Offered in an Empire Style gilt wood frame with some chipped losses."
"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."

Antoine Dubost trained under François André Vincent and exhibited in the Paris salon between 1799 and 1817, showing a mixture of history painting, horses and portraiture.  The present painting was the first work he ever exhibited and was again shown in London in 1807 at the Royal Academy.

As an example of his early work this picture lacks the confidence of later works such as The Return of Helen (sold New York, Sotheby's, 5 April 2001, lot 26 for $220,000). Nevertheless Dubost chose a sophisticated Neo-classical subject rarely seen on the walls of the Salon in this period.  The Roman senator Marcus Junius Brutus is depicted taking leave of his wife Portia Catonis after he was forced to flee Rome in the chaotic political aftermath of the assassination of Caesar.  Portia was stricken with grief but tried to hide from her husband, however as he was about to embark she caught sight of a painting of the farewell of Hector and Andromache before the Trojan War and was reminded of how Andromache did not see her husband alive again.  Portia was struck by a premonition, later to be proved right, that she too would never see her husband again, and collapsed.  This event was described by Homer and Plutarch and retold by Charles Rollin in his Histoire Romanie published in Paris in 1741 which was a popular source for Neo-classical subject matter in this period.¹

1. C. Rollin, Histoire Romanie, vol. 141.48, Paris 1741, p. 481.