JEAN BAPTISTE DEBRET | The Four Seasons

oil on canvas (enlarged by a vertical band of approx. 33cm on Spring, Summer and Autumn) ; Spring, signed and dated lower right Debret an 1804 ; Autumn, signed and dated lower right Debret. 1804 ; Winter, signed and dated lower center Debret an 1804 ; a lot of four

Sale of la Marquise de Baye's succession, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 19 May 1930, lots 1, 2 et 3 (Summer does not appear in the sale) ;
Galerie Kugel, Paris, circa 2000 ;
Pierre Bergé collection

Jörg Ebelling and Ulrich Leben, Le style Empire, L'hôtel de Beauharnais à Paris, Paris, 2016, for the illustration of an old photograph showing Summer and Autumn in the hôtel du marquis de Baye before 1930

One of David’s pupils, Debret won the second Prize of Rome in 1791. Between 1799 and 1814, he exhibited large format paintings depicting subjects that were neoclassical or inspired by the Napoleonic epoch at the Salon de Paris. In 1815, he was responsible for creating and organizing the Rio de Janeiro School of Fine Arts. Nominated as painter of the Brazilian Royal family, he returned to France only in 1831. He published a book entitled Voyage pittoresque et historique au Brésil (Picturesque and Historical Travels around Brazil) illustrated with lithographs based on watercolours sketched from life in Brazil.