Lot 3070
  • 3070

Nicolas de Largillière 1656 - 1746

Estimate
50,000 - 70,000 HKD
bidding is closed

Description

  • Nicolas de Largillière
  • Recto: A Sheet of Studies of Hands and Arms Verso: Study of a cleric
  • paper and chalk
    Recto: Black, red and white chalk;
    Verso: Black chalk

Catalogue Note

One of the leading portrait painters in France during the latter half of the reign of Louis XIV, Nicolas de Largillière was trained in Antwerp and London, settling in Paris in 1679. He soon established a reputation as a portrait painter, and as early as 1681 had painted a portrait of the King and other members of the royal family. Largillière was accepted into the Académie Royale in 1683, and later served twice as its Director. As well as members of the royal family and the Court nobility, Largillière also painted portraits of the landed aristocracy and the haute bourgeoisie, as well as leading civil, religious and military figures. The success of his portraiture and the numerous commissions he received allowed the artist to amass a considerable fortune. From the beginning of his career many of his formal portraits were reproduced as engravings, which served to further his reputation. He also painted a handful of still lifes and some landscapes. After 1725 Largillière ceased to exhibit at the Salons, and from 1730 he worked more slowly and his output began to decline.

The 18th century critic and art historian Antoine-Joseph Dezallier d’Argenville wrote of Largillière that he worked directly on the canvas, without recourse to preparatory drawings, except for studies of heads, hands and drapery. Indeed, only a handful of drawings by the artist are known.

It has been assumed that, when preparing his compositions, Largillière must have worked from drawings and oil sketches which he kept in his studio. One such oil sketch depicting various studies of hands, which can be related to several portraits by the artist, is in the collection of the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Algiers, on deposit at the Louvre (see M.N. Rosenfeld, Largilliere and the Eighteenth-Century Portrait, Montreal, 1981, p. 197, fig. I). It has also been suggested that ‘Dezallier d’Argenville’s observation that Largilliere used few drawings can be explained by the fact that Largilliere preferred oil sketches to drawings, probably because the establishment of colour relationships was of primary importance to him,’ ibid., p. 197.

The attribution of this drawing, which may be dated to the end of the first decade of the 18th century, has been confirmed by Dominique Brême.