JEAN-BAPTISTE MARIE PIERRE | Decorative design

Arcachon, commerce d'art (M. Berthier) ; 
Acquis à Bordeaux, commerce d'art (M. Cabro), avril 1975.

Rennes, 2012, n°61 (notice par Nicolas Lesur) ;
Sceaux, 2013 (sans catalogue)

N. Lesur et O. Aaron, Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre (1714-1789), Premier peintre du roi, Paris, 2009, pp.102, 407-408, D 277, repr. p.408

Hinge mounted to a modern mount. The sheet has fractionally discoloured over time and there are some very small stains to the lower half of the sheet and a small tear to the lower half of the left edge. The medium itself remains in very fine condition, with the combination of media fresh and vibrant. Sold framed.
"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 present sheet is a rare example of a surviving decorative design by Jean Baptiste Marie Pierre, and fits securely into a fascinating, small group of drawings by the artist, which it has been suggested were made in preparation for an important decorative project at the Palais-Royal, Paris. Executed primarily in pen and ink with the very distinctive addition of a blue-green wash in places, this impressive sheet can be closely compared on stylistic and technical grounds to two further drawings by the artist, similarly depicting designs for decorative projects, now housed in the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris¹ and the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Orléans.²

At first glance the present design is perhaps more reminiscent of a church balustrade or entablature, or possibly even the architectural crown of an important hôtel particulier.  The fascinating suggestion that it may, instead, have been produced by Pierre in preparation for a mural decoration for one of the antechambers of the newly built apartments of the Palais-Royal was first made by Lesur and Aaron in their comprehensive 2009 catalogue of Pierre’s graphic oeuvre.³ This exciting theory is supported by a description of the antechambers by the great 18^th-century connoisseur, Dezallier d'Argenville, who described these rooms as “painted in Tuscan pilasters, with figures and vases...”,⁴ a description particularly consistent with both the École des Beaux-Arts and Orléans sheets. Furthermore the anchor, which features at the centre of the Adrien sheet, was a motif also extensively employed on exterior walls of the courtyard of the Palais-Royal, further uniting these marvellous designs with the equally impressive building.

^1. Paris, Ecole nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, inv. no. O. 785; Lesur and Aaron, op. cit., p. 407, no. D. 278, p. 408, reproduced

^2. Orléans, musée des Beaux-Arts, inv. no. 1024 A; Ibid., p. 407, no. D. 279, pp. 103 and 408, reproduced

^3. Ibid., pp. 407-409

^4. A. N. Dezallier d’Argenville, Voyage pittoresque de Paris, Paris 1757, pp. 71-72