Louis-Nicolas van Blarenberghe (Lille 1716 - 1794) and Henri-Joseph van Blarenberghe (Lille 1750 - 1826)

Archibald Philip, 5^th Earl of Rosebery (1847-1929), Mentmore, Buckinghamshire (inv. 1884 II.46);
by descent to Harry, 6th Earl of Rosebery (1882-1974);
sale, London, Sotheby's, 11 March 1964, lot 245 (as a view in the Tuileries);
with Thomas Agnew & Co., London;
with Bensimon, Paris

'La Collection Rosebery', Revue de l'Art ancien et moderne, LXIV, 1933, p. 77, reproduced;
S. Grandjean et al., The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, Fribourg 1975, p. 244, note 36;
M. Maillet-Chassagne and I. de Château-Thierry, Catalogue raisonné des œuvres des Van Blarenberghe 1680-1826, Lille 2004, pp. 302-3, no. 3-521-3, reproduced (as Louis-Nicolas and Henri-Joseph van Blarenberghe, a view in the Champs Elysées or the Tuileries)

From the early 1770s, when Louis-Nicolas van Blarenberghe and his son, Henri-Joseph, travelled to Brest to make views of the famous port for Choiseuil, the Minister of War, until the late 1780s, father and son worked together so closely that their styles are indistinguishable.  In 1777, the year after this animated scene was painted, Henri-Joseph was made drawing master to the children of Louis XVI's brother, the Comte d'Artois.

The Rosebery Collection at Mentmore contained an impressive group of gouaches by the Blarenberghes, which hung in the so-called Blarenberghe Room.  Some of these works came to the family together with the 5th Earl's wife, Hannah Rothschild, daughter and heir of Baron Mayer Amschel de Rothschild, while others, like the present example were acquired at a later date.  

Whether the location depicted is actually the Champs Elysées or Tuileries has been debated, but either way, this is an extremely animated view of a lively Parisian public garden, with all types of people going about their different recreations.  Two rather similar scenes, vertical in composition but comparable to this in their conception and atmosphere, were included in the famous Mentmore house sale of 1977.¹

1. Sale, Sotheby's at Mentmore House, vol. IV (Paintings, Prints and Drawings), 25-26 May 1977, lots 2603, 2609