Robert Levrac-Tournières

Anonymous sale, Paris, Baron Ribeyre & Associés, 3 December 2010, lot 191.

The canvas has a firm relining. The paint surface is secure and stable, and the varnish is clear and even. There is a degree of wear throughout, but no major damages. Inspection under ultraviolet light reveals two campaigns of restoration. The more recent restoration is limited to some minor retouchings in the lifted leaves of the book, in the side of his hand, and in his cuff. There are more concentrated patches of recent retouching, including one to an old damage three inches in length running horizontally through the red ribbon around the sitter’s neck. There is a second recent retouching between the eyebrows and over the sitter’s left eye, and another fine line of recent retouching over the sitter’s nose measuring one inch in length. An older campaign of restoration, beneath the milky varnish, is harder to make out, but seems likely to consist of scattered areas of retouching throughout the dark tones of the background and the sitter’s clothes. The varnish fluoresces milky and opaque under ultraviolet light and appears to be quite patchy. Offered in an ornate carved and gild wood frame in good condition.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The Comte de Morville was a French diplomat, minister and homme de lettres of the late Louis XIV and early Louis XV periods. He was the son of the prominent minister and financier Joseph Fleuriau d’Armenonville, whose influence helped him to rise quickly thought the magistrate ranks to become a Councilor of State in 1711 and ambassador to Holland in 1718, where he was instrumental in negotiating the Quadruple Alliance of the Dutch Republic, Britain, France and Austria against the territorial ambitions of Philip V of Spain. In 1723 he became a member of the Académie Française and was also appointed Ministre de la Marine and subsequently Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, a post he held until he was dismissed in 1727 for political reasons by Louis XV’s chief minister Cardinal Fleury. After leaving office he continued nonetheless to receive a pension and lodging at Versailles, and he also built the Château de Morvillle in the Beauce region outside Paris in 1724, which passed to the Rochefoucauld family half a century later.

Two copies of the portrait, in a significantly reduced head and shoulders format and by a much less skilled hand, are in the collections of the Château de Versailles, dated 1723, and curiously they are virtually identical to the larger version apart from replacing the unusual mannerist jewel tied to the red ribbon the sitter wears around his neck in the original portrait with the Order of the Golden Fleece, which Fleuriau had been awarded by Philip V of Spain in 1724. Presumably this was a later alteration, as had Fleuriau already been in receipt of the Order when he sat for his portrait, the medal should have been prominently presented as symbol of the subject’s status.

The allegorical female statue sketched in the background appears to be a variation of the traditional figure of Prudence, and she is flanked by a dolphin, an appropriate emblem for a naval minister, while the open book and letter addressed to ‘Le Roy’ symbolize service to King and literature.

We are grateful to Mr. Eddie Tassel for confirming the attribution to Levrac-Tournières on inspection of photographs, and for suggestion a date of execution for the present work of circa 1725.