AFTER LOUIS JEAN FRANÇOIS LAGRENÉE | Melancholy

oil on canvas, laid down on millboard A period, smaller copy after Louis Jean François Lagrenée's painting entitled 'Melancholy', datable to 'circa' 1785, today in the Louvre, Paris (inv. no. 5571).1  Lagrenée was teacher to his younger brother, Jean-Jacques Lagrenée (1739–1821), and father of François Lagrenée (1774–1832), who also became an artist. From 1760–62 Louis and Jean-Jacques were together in Russia, having been invited there by Empress Elizabeth, and both also spent time at the Académie de France in Rome before pursuing their careers in France.  Lagrenée was a prolific painter and draughtsman, and received many important commissions for both religious and secular works, such as the 'Audience of St Louis with Pope Innocent IV at Lyon' for the École Militaire in Paris. He turned away from the Rococo style of the 18th century to revive the classicising taste of the previous century, and looked to history painters such as Eustache Le Sueur or Louis de Boullogne for inspiration. He also excelled in painting small, allegorical works, such as the present composition. 1 http://www2.culture.gouv.fr/public/mistral/joconde_fr?ACTION=RETROUVER&FIELD_1=DOMN&VALUE_1=&FIELD_2=Ctyob&VALUE_2=&FIELD_3=AUTR&VALUE_3=%27LAGRENEE%20LOUIS%20JEAN%20FRANCOIS%27&FIELD_4=Clieu&VALUE_4=&FIELD_5=REPR&VALUE_5=&FIELD_6=Cdate&VALUE_6=&FIELD_7=DECV&VALUE_7=&FIELD_8=LOCA&VALUE_8=&FIELD_9=Mat%e9riaux%2ftechniques&VALUE_9=&FIELD_10=Titre&VALUE_10=&NUMBER=32&GRP=0&REQ=%28%28%27LAGRENEE%20LOUIS%20JEAN%20FRANCOIS%27%29%20%3aAUTR%20%29&USRNAME=nobody&USRPWD=4%24%2534P&SPEC=5&SYN=1&IMLY=&MAX1=1&MAX2=1&MAX3=200&DOM=All

With Schläfer's, Strasbourg (according to a label on the reverse).

All paintings available to view at the Sotheby’s Greenford Park warehouse, 5 - 7 and 10 – 13 September (10 - 4pm), by appointment. The canvas is laid down on board, which is flat and stable. The paint surface is quite dirty and the varnish is discoloured. Inspection under ultraviolet light reveals retouchings along three surface scratches, two diagonal along the upper half of the left margin, and one horizontal across the top of the figure's head, as well as in the background, just to the left of her arm, and scattered along the right and lower margins.
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