Louis Béroud

Sale: Sotheby's, New York, May 21, 1987, lot 126, illustrated
Private Collection (acquired at the above sale and sold, Sotheby's, New York, April 18, 2008, lot 278, illustrated)
Acquired at the above sale

Lined. The surface is clean. Under UV: there is a 5 by 3 inch 'C' shaped area of inpainting in the painting above the left figure. There are fine dashes of retouching that fluoresce on the lower half of the left figure's skirt and the right figure's foot against the chair, and one isolated dot of retouching along the extreme left lower edge.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

As far as nineteenth century students were concerned, the Louvre held the entirety of art history on its crowded walls and offered a bounty of choices for study; unlike most of the Academies and ateliers, however, access was open to both men and women. Viewing and copying the museum's masterpieces was an important part of an artist's education, and a practice that Louis Béroud both enjoyed and, cleverly and somewhat uniquely, used as the subject of at least twenty-six of his compositions. Indeed, the artist was such a frequent visitor to the Louvre that he is credited with sounding the alarm upon discovering the Mona Lisa's theft in 1911. 

After visiting the museum, an American visitor noted that "along the galleries are numerous temporary stands, easels, etc., at which artists are constantly at work copying such paintings as they may have orders for, or hope to find purchasers for" (as quoted in Barbara Stern Shapiro, Pleasures of Paris: Daumier to Picasso, Boston, 1991, p. 108). Stumbling across a working artist and his or her accoutrements was not a rare occurrence for the nineteenth century museum-goer (fig. 1). In the present work, these hard-working artists have taken a break from their study in front of Jean-Baptiste Greuze's La Latière, farthest to the left, and La cruche cassée, on the right, with Antoine Watteau's L'embarguqment pour Cythère in the center. The Greuze paintings hang together in the Louvre even today, with the Watteau just a few rooms away in the Sully Wing.