Details & Cataloguing
Old Master & British Drawings including French Masterworks from the Dormeuil Collection
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London
London
Jacques-André Portail
BREST 1695 - 1759 VERSAILLES
'LA CONVERSATION'
Provenance
The Comte de Gabriac;
anonymous sale, Paris, 6 March 1899, lot 84,
acquired at the sale by Georges Dormeuil (L.1146a),
thence by descent to the present owners
anonymous sale, Paris, 6 March 1899, lot 84,
acquired at the sale by Georges Dormeuil (L.1146a),
thence by descent to the present owners
Exhibited
London, Royal Academy of Arts, Exhibition of French Art 1200-1900, 1932, no. 732;
Copenhagen, palais de Charlottenburg, L'Art française du XVIIIe siècle, 1935, no. 482
Copenhagen, palais de Charlottenburg, L'Art française du XVIIIe siècle, 1935, no. 482
Literature
J. Guiffrey and P. Marcel, Société de Reproduction des Dessins de Mâitres, III, Paris 1911, pl. 19;
X. Salmon, Jacques-André Portail, Cahier du Dessin Français no. 10, Paris 1996, p. 20, no. 39, reproduced p. 65
X. Salmon, Jacques-André Portail, Cahier du Dessin Français no. 10, Paris 1996, p. 20, no. 39, reproduced p. 65
Catalogue Note
Like lot 54, above, this is one of Portail's most beautiful and accomplished drawings, in which he comes particularly close in style to Watteau. In this case, though, there is another dimension to this stylistic proximity, in that here Portail has made extensive use of graphite in combination with red chalk. As noted in relation lot 55, Watteau used graphite increasingly frequently towards the end of his life, taking full advantage of the additional visual possibilities offered by adding this medium to the traditional trois crayons, and combining the four pigments in various ways.
Although Portail does not here employ either black or white chalk, the combination of red chalk and graphite is very sophisticated, creating an image of great visual interest and depth.
Suggested Lots
Old Master & British Drawings including French Masterworks from the Dormeuil Collection
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London
London
