Jean-Baptiste Oudry

Henry Didier, Paris, by 1860
His sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 15-17 June 1868, lot 72, for FF 1,200;
Madame Denain, Paris;
Her sale, Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, 6-7 April 1893, lot 20, for FF 2,550, to Coblenz;
With Galerie Cailleux, Paris;
George Encil;
By whom sold, London, Sotheby's, 12 December 1990, lot 111;
Anonymous sale ("Property of a French Bank"), New York, Sotheby's, 30 January 1998, lot 94;
There acquired by the present collector.

Paris, Tableaux et dessins de l'Ecole française principalement du XVIIIe siècle tirés de collections d'amateurs, catalogue by Ph. Burty, 1860, no. 217;
Paris, Galerie Cailleux, Peintres de la réalité au XVIIIe siècle, 1945, no. 27;
Rennes, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Natures mortes anciennes et modernes, 30 September - 30 October 1953, no. 20;
Saint-Etienne, Musée d'art et d'industrie, Natures mortes de l'antiquité au XVIIIe siècle, 1954, no. 51;
Rotterdam, Boymans Museum, Vier Eeuwen Stilleven in Frankrijk, 10 July - 20 September 1954, no. 39;
London, Royal Academy, European Masters of the Eighteenth Century, 27 November 1954 - 27 February 1955, no. 163;
Zurich, Kunsthaus, Schönheit des 18. Jahrhunderts, September - October 1955, no. 225;
Bordeaux, Musée des beaux-arts de Bordeaux, Paris et les ateliers provinciaux au XVIIIe siècle, 10 May - 31 July 1955, no. 11;
Paris, Galerie Heim, Hommage à Chardin, 5 June - 10 July 1959, no. 47.

J. Locquin, "Catalogue raisonné de l'Oeuvre de Jean-Baptiste Oudry," in Archives de l'Art Français; Société de l'Histoire de l'Art Français, vol. II, 1912, cat. no. 56;
J. Vergnet-Ruiz, Les Peintres Français du XVIIIe Siècle; Histoires des Vies et Catalogue des Oeuvres, Paris and Brussels 1930, vol. II, p. 171, cat. no. 286;
J. Cailleux, Le Dix-Huitième Siècle. Collection Connaissance des Arts, Paris 1956, p. 20, reproduced;
M. Faré, La Nature Morte en France, vol. II, Geneva 1963, reproduced pl. 335;
M. and F. Faré, La Vie Silencieuse en France; La Nature Morte au XVIIIe siècle, Fribourg 1976, p. 113, reproduced pl. 182;
H. Opperman, Jean-Baptiste Oudry, New York 1977, vol. I, p. 562, cat. no. P.532, and vol. II, p. 947, reproduced fig. 130;
V. Prat, in Experience and Adventures of a Collector, Paris 1989, pp. 180-81, reproduced in color p. 181;
Sotheby's Highlights, London 3 December 1997 and New York 30 January 1998 sales, reproduced.

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 work has been very attractively restored. The canvas has a glue lining. The paint layer is well textured. All of the delicate touches within the still life itself are beautifully preserved. The right side of the background has a fairly significant loss between the base of the violin and the upper right edge that has been restored; this area measures about 4 by 4 inches. There is another loss along the edge beneath this, nearer the top of the table on the far right, which is about 5 inches long by 1 ½ inches at its widest. Above the "J" and the "B" of the signature, there is a circular loss of about 2 inches by 1 inch. The only other restorations are a few small spots above the recorder in the sheet music. Given that these areas of loss are isolated, well restored and do not have an impact on the condition of the work as a whole, the work can be considered to be very well preserved. It can certainly be hung in its current condition.
"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."

Oudry was one of the most successful and versatile artists of the 18th century.  Initially trained as a portrait painter under Nicolas de Largillierre, he went on to make great contributions to the genres of landscape, animal, and still life painting.  Through the Marquis de Beringhen, Premier Ecuyer du Roi, he was introduced to Louis XV and obtained his first royal commission in 1724.  Oudry exhibited at the Place Dauphine (1722-25) and subsequently in the Salon, beginning with twelve paintings in the Salon of 1725.  The present still life has been dated to around this same moment.  In a beautifully balanced composition, Oudry depicts a violin propped against a stack of books; a recorder rests between music sheets positioned precariously close to the table ledge, ready to tumble out of the picture plane.  Offsetting these objects on the left side are four peaches and a bunch of deep purple grapes.  The simplicity of the composition and subtle lighting bring to mind the works of Chardin who, thirteen years Oudry’s junior, had just begun producing still lifes and was certainly aware of the works of the elder master.  Indeed, the two artists would mutually influence one another from the mid-1720s onward, always mindful of what the other was doing.¹  Oudry’s still lifes incorporating music and musical instruments proved enormously popular and were much in demand.  The music depicted in this painting has not been identified but is, most likely, beginning practice notations.

Hal Opperman (see Literature) has suggested that this still life may have been en suite with Still Life with a Musette and Music, which is of almost the same dimensions (65 by 80 cm.), in a private collection, Paris;² he dates both pictures to circa 1725 and suggests that they were, perhaps, part of the same decorative scheme. Opperman corrects all previous literature and exhibitions concerning the present work, from 1860 on and including Prat (see Literature), with regard to the painting’s provenance and that it was said to bear a date of “1725.”  There is no evidence, as had been previously recorded, that this painting was owned by the Marquis de Beringhen at the Château d’Ivry or that it was shown in the Salon of 1741.  The Marquis’ painting, a devant de cheminée, which was exhibited at that Salon (no. 34), is traceable to a sale at Paris, Hôtel Drouot on 26 February 1942, lot 42, but has since disappeared.³

 

 

1.  See H. Opperman, J.-B. Oudry, exhibition catalogue, Fort Worth 1983, pp. 75-77.
2.  See Opperman, under Literature, vol. I, p. 563, cat. no. P533, vol. II, p. 947, reproduced p. 1037, fig. 129; and Georges de Lastic (1927-1988): Le Cabinet d'un amateur collectionneur et conservateur, exhibition catalogue, Paris, Senlis and Clermont-Ferrand 2010-2011, no. 36, reproduced.
3.  See Opperman, op.cit.,vol. I, p. 565, cat. no. P538.