- 89
Louis Carrogis called Carmontelle
Estimate
7,000 - 9,000 GBP
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Description
- Louis Carrogis called Carmontelle
- Portrait of Marie Louise Petit, at the age of 105, with a nurse standing behind
- Black and red chalk and watercolour, heightened with white, the upper section cut and re-attached;
inscribed and dated on the 18th century mount: Marie Louise Petit, Agée de 105. Ans. / Déssinée à Villers-Coterest Le 6. juillet 1765.
Provenance
Louis Carrogis de Carmontelle,
his sale, Paris, 17 April 1807, part of lot 22;
Chevalier Richard de Lédans,
his sale, Paris, 3 November 1816;
Pierre de La Mésangère,
his sale, Paris, 18 July 1831, part of lot 304,
purchased by John Duff;
sale, New York, Christie's, 22 January 2003, lot 69
his sale, Paris, 17 April 1807, part of lot 22;
Chevalier Richard de Lédans,
his sale, Paris, 3 November 1816;
Pierre de La Mésangère,
his sale, Paris, 18 July 1831, part of lot 304,
purchased by John Duff;
sale, New York, Christie's, 22 January 2003, lot 69
NB where does the Duff prov come - not in Christie's cat.
Catalogue Note
This sensitive and thoughtful double portrait of youth versus age was part of a series which Carmontelle drew during his time at the court of the Duc d'Orléans. He entered the service of Louis Philippe, Duc d'Orléans, in 1759 and enjoyed a buoyant careeer there, organising official entertainments and later also becoming a garden designer, creating what is now the Parc Monceau. The present drawing was executed in Villers-Cotterêts, the country house where the Orléans family spent their summer.
Over the course of some 34 years, Carmontelle made more than 750 portraits of the family, their court, and other friends and acquaintances, which were bound in eleven albums. He mainly drew the portraits for himself and would only produce replicas on request. At the end of his life, Carmontelle gave the names of all the sitters in his portraits to his great friend, Richard Lédans who compiled a manuscript list, now in the museum at Chantilly, where there are 570 portraits from the original group. The albums remained intact until in the possession of Pierre de La Mésangère, who dismantled them and mounted each drawing as here on a green mount.