JEAN-JOSEPH-XAVIER BIDAULD | FRANÇOIS I AT THE FOUNTAIN OF VAUCLUSE

Pierre François Léonard Fontaine (1762-1853);

Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby's, 25 January 2008, lot 409 (as by Joseph-Pierre-Xavier Bidauld);

There acquired. 

The village of Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, 25 km east of Avignon, was famously the home of Italian poet Petrarch (1304-1374), who wrote many of his most famous works there. It is centered around a gushing spring, situated at the bottom of a steep limestone cliff, which has had a cult following for centuries and continues to attract many personalities and writers paying tribute to the famous poet.

Bidauld repeated the subject of François I at the fountain of Vaucluse on a number of occasions, including twice at the Salon: first in 1812, no. 83, and then in 1814, no. 101. A larger version of the present composition, with differences in the staffage, was sold in these rooms 23 January 2003, lot 219.  

When the painting was offered in 2008, it was incorrectly catalogued as by Joseph-Pierre-Xavier Bidauld, the elder brother of Jean-Joseph-Xavier Bidauld.