Louis-Léopold Boilly

Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 4 July 1990, lot 110.

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 painting on copper is in very good condition. It is probably slightly dirty. Under ultraviolet light there are a few small dots of retouch in the hair and shirt of the child. The edges are slightly scuffed, but the condition is excellent overall.
"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."

This charming image of a young girl holding her unruly sibling (almost certainly her little brother) is typical of the type of gentle humor enjoyed by Boilly in some of his smaller genre paintings.  The theme of family life was a particular favorite of the artist, and familial subjects were treated by him time and time again.  A small number of works focus on filial relationships, most often of an older-- yet still young-- sister looking after her younger brothers and sisters.  A print after Boilly engraved by G. Texier entitled "L'Amitié Filiale" depicts a young girl seated in a chair while her younger brother climbs on her lap to kiss her.  A black chalk drawing of about the same time, "Le préféré" or "La grand soeur", similarly depicts an adolescent girl embracing her brother and sister.¹

The present painting is painted on copper, and would appear to relate to a group of small, circular pictures painted by Boilly on metal of about the same size.  Two of these, "La Mère et l'Enfant" and "Les Chiens Cheris" were offered as consecutive lots in a sale in Sotheby's Monaco, 3 December 1989, lots 501 and 502.  Both measured close to 8 centimeters in diameter, and were almost certainly from the same group as the present picture; the first, in fact, is very similar in composition to the present painting, depicting a young woman (pace the cataloguer in 1989, but closer to a soeur than a mère) holding a wiggling child, but in the reverse sense.    It is tempting to connect these three pictures with a description in Boilly's posthumous sale, which mentions one of the compositions by name: "Les Chiens Chéris" together with four others "petits tableaux fixés, bien composés et bien exécutés"(Sale Paris, 31 January 1845, lot 37)."

The present work has been inspected first hand by Etienne Breton and Pascal Zuber, who will include it in their catalogue raisonné of the works of Boilly, in preparation.

 

 

1. This drawing was formerly with Galerie Cailleux in 1952, and was offered at Christie's London on July 8, 2009, lot 110.