Master Paintings and Drawings
Master Paintings and Drawings
Property from the Estate of Alexis Gregory, sold to benefit the Alexis Gregory Foundation
Jean-Baptiste-Marie Pierre
Roman Charity
Lot Closed
October 22, 02:33 PM GMT
Estimate
30,000 - 50,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Property from the Estate of Alexis Gregory, sold to benefit the Alexis Gregory Foundation
Jean-Baptiste-Marie Pierre
Paris 1714 - 1789
Roman Charity
oil on canvas
canvas: 49½ by 37¼ in.; 125.7 by 94.5 cm.
framed: 59 by 46¾ in.; 149.8 by 118.7 cm.
Cardinal Fesch, by 1841 (inv. no. 1707);
His sale, Rome, Palais Ricci, 17-18 March 1845, lot 447;
E. Doumet, 1860;
By descent and sold ("collection du Musée de Balaine [succession de M. Doumet-Adanson]"), Paris, Hotel Drouot, 7-8 December 1923, lot 163 (as Joseph Marie Vien);
Anonymous sale, Monaco, Sotheby's, 17 June 1988, lot 894 (as Vien);
There acquired.
His sale, Rome, Palais Ricci, 17-18 March 1845, lot 447;
E. Doumet, 1860;
By descent and sold ("collection du Musée de Balaine [succession de M. Doumet-Adanson]"), Paris, Hotel Drouot, 7-8 December 1923, lot 163 (as Joseph Marie Vien);
Anonymous sale, Monaco, Sotheby's, 17 June 1988, lot 894 (as Vien);
There acquired.
H. Mireur, Dictionnaire des Ventes d'Art, vol. VII, Paris 1912, pp. 368-369;
T. Gaehtgens and J. Lugand, Joseph-Marie Vien, Paris 1988 p. 215, reproduced fig. 49 (as doubtful attribution to Vien);
N. Lesur and O. Aaron, Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre 1714-1789: Premier peintre du roi, Paris 2009, pp. 205, 292, cat. no. P.211, reproduced in reverse.
T. Gaehtgens and J. Lugand, Joseph-Marie Vien, Paris 1988 p. 215, reproduced fig. 49 (as doubtful attribution to Vien);
N. Lesur and O. Aaron, Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre 1714-1789: Premier peintre du roi, Paris 2009, pp. 205, 292, cat. no. P.211, reproduced in reverse.
In De Factorum et Dictorum Memorabilium (Memorable Acts and Sayings of the Ancient Romans), the ancient historian Valerius Maximus tells of a certain Cimon, an aged man, who is in prison awaiting execution and who is therefore left without food. His daughter Pero visits him and, upon seeing his deteriorating health, nourishes him by giving him her breast. Of the many examples of filial piety in the literature of antiquity, this story is the most ubiquitous among artists' depictions throughout the 16th and 17th centuries in Italy and Northern Europe, though it is rarer in 18th century France.