François de Troy

Anonymous sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 14 June 1954, lot 121.

Canvas is relined. This picture is under a uniform discolored varnish which appears thick and milky when viewed under UV light. No retouches are visible below the varnish, though there may be some which are masked by its discoloring. Above the varnish there are only two very small retouches in the sitters robe adjacent to his left hand. The coloration and detailing seem to be well preserved, and no major losses or physical damages to paint surface are perceptible. This work would respond well to a light cleaning. In a carved gilt wood frame.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

François de Troy was among the best portrait painters of the late Baroque period and the only true rival in France of Hyacinthe Rigaud and Nicolas de Largillièrre.  He was a member of a dynasty of artists from the city of Toulouse and, after apprenticing with his father, settled in Paris in circa 1662 where he trained further with Claude Lefebvre and Nicolas-Pierre Loir.  In 1674, de Troy became a member of the Académie Royale upon presentation of his history painting, Mercury and Argus (Paris, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts).  Eventually, he dedicated himself to portraiture working in court circles for nearly five decades, as well as executing many portraits of the Parisian bourgeosie.  He rose through the hierarchy of the Académie, eventually becoming Director from 1708-1711.  His son, Jean-François de Troy (1679-1752) was a celebrated history and genre painter.

This portrait, dated 1725, was executed in the same year that François de Troy undertook his fourth great group portrait of Parisian dignitaries, the Ex-Voto for the church of Saint-Etienne-du-Mont, which was completed in 1726.  The present work is comparable to two of de Troy's individual portraits connected with that commission, that of Jean-Francois Bouquet and Portrait of an Echevin,¹ and the pose of the sitter recalls that of an earlier work, Portrait of Jules Hardouin-Mansart of 1699.²

This portrait will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the works of François de Troy by Dominique Brême.

 

1.  In the collections of the Musée du Louvre and Musée Carnavalet, Paris, respectively; see D. Brême, François de Troy, exhibition catalogue, Toulouse 1997, p. 74, both reproduced.
2.  Versailles, Musée National du Château; see Ibid, p. 36, reproduced.