François Boucher

Jean-Claude Gaspard de Sireul (documented in his estate inventory of 6 September 1781);
Mrs. T. Langton,
her sale, London, Sotheby’s, 26 June 1957, lot 15,
where purchased by the Hallsborough Gallery, London;
Christopher Norris, Polesden Lacey, Surrey,
sold by his heirs, London, Sotheby's, 4 July 1988, lot 72 (as attributed to Boucher);
with Baskett & Day, London, An Exhibition of Old Master Drawings, 1988, no. 37;
with Investors in Art Inc., from whom acquired in October 2000 by Robert S. Pirie

New York, The Frick Collection; Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, The Drawings of François Boucher (catalogue by Alastair Laing), 2003-04, no. 65;
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Pastel Portraits: Images of 18th Century Europe, 2011, no. 13

N. Jeffares, Dictionary of pastellists before 1800, London 2006, p. 66, under Boucher;
Katharine Baetjer and Marjorie Shelley, 'Pastel Portraits: Images of 18^th-Century Europe', in The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, vol. LXVIII, Spring 2011, p. 23, no. 13, reproduced

‘The Studio of the Painter was the Museum of the Connoisseur, and it was there that Mr. de Sireul passed hours on end watching the canvas spring to life under the happy touch of the Artist..’¹

Monsieur Jean-Claude Gaspard de Sireul (ca. 1710/20–1781) was one of François Boucher’s foremost patrons and a great collector of his drawings. The above extract, taken from the forward to the catalogue of Sireul’s posthumous sale in 1781, describes the close bond that artist and collector shared and provides the perfect anecdote to introduce this exquisite and rare pastel portrait.

Relatively little is known of Monsieur Sireul as an individual but the information that does exist clearly highlights the admiration he had for Boucher and the passion he had to amass a rather substantial collection of his works – a collection coined as ‘the portfolio of Mr. Boucher…’² His posthumous sale, held on 3 December 1781, contained fifteen oil paintings by Boucher, four pastels (not including this one) and two hundred and eleven drawings; his portrait must have been retained by his heirs.  Sireul did not use a collector’s mark so the works he owned are only identifiable through descriptions in the catalogue.  The original inscription on the mount of the present portrait serves as a further indication of the intimate friendship between the two men: Boucher Delineavit Et donavit 1761, 'Boucher drew and presented the pastel to Sireul in 1761.' 

This pastel remained virtually unknown until it was offered in the Sotheby’s sale in 1988. Boucher rarely painted portraits and his interest in portraiture was limited.  His preferences were for pastoral and mythological subjects where he could let his imagination run free on the canvas or page.  He did not try to compete with his contemporaries like Portail, Drouais and De La Tour who were painting the nobility and important personalities of the day.  Boucher’s work in the medium of pastel was also limited and despite his considerable output as a draughtsman, pastel portraits are relatively rare in his oeuvre.  While he regularly used coloured chalks to enhance his figures drawn in other media, he did not adopt pure pastel with any such frequency.

The mutual admiration between artist and sitter is immediately apparent when studying this portrait. Monsieur Sireul’s expression is one of contentment and ease.  Boucher has captured the kindness in his eyes as he stares out towards the artist he so greatly admired.  He is a gentleman with an air of approachable sophistication who is blissfully happy to sit for hours in the artist’s studio.  Boucher has used the pastels to create soft and subtle tones and to emphasize intricate details like the embroidery on his jacket.  He has carefully constructed the portrait by applying even pressure throughout and highlighting with lines of black to give definition to the hair and clothes.  In terms of technique the closest work in pastel that we can compare this to is Boucher’s Boy holding a Carrot now in the Art institute of Chicago.³  Whilst that boy is used later in a larger composition and is not a ‘true’ portrait, he is rendered with the same delicacy and care as Monsieur Sireul. 

Another portrait of Monsieur Sireul, by Carmontelle, was formerly in the A. Mayer Collection, and was sold at Sotheby’s in London in 1972.⁴ That drawing is dedicated to Sireul’s son and is inscribed by the sitter, ‘when seeing my portrait, remember a Father who loves you.’ These affectionate words resonate with the compassionate picture of the man presented here in Boucher’s pastel.

This is a wonderfully sensitive and sympathetic portrait, a great labour of love for both artist and collector that conveys a remarkable sense of strong friendship and trust.

^1. A. Laing, exhib. cat., op.cit., 2003-04, p. 174, under no. 65

^2. Ibid., p. 174

^3. François Boucher in North American Collections: 100 Drawings, exhib. cat., Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1974, p.41, no. 32

^4. Carmontelle, Portrait of Monsieur Sireul, sale, London, Sotheby's, 23 March 1972, lot 73