Louis Rolland Trinquesse

Close to Louis-Léopold Boilly and Marguerite Gérard, Louis-Roland Trinquesse (1746–1799) was a French painter and draughtsman who developed his art in Parisian artistic circles, away from the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture. While he only exhibited at the Salon de la Correspondance from 1779 to 1787 and then at the official Salon in the revolutionary years, he was esteemed by his contemporaries as a portrait painter of the bourgeoisie and the aristocracy, as well as the author of much admired genre scenes.

Following the trend for scènes galantes in the 1760s and 1770s and the ‘tableaux de mode’ by Nicolas Lancret and Jean-François de Troy, Louis-Roland Trinquesse here presents his Offering to Eros. The artist sets the scene inside a tholos, in a lush garden with glimpses of avenues, a series of fountains and statues. In the centre of the composition, a female figure leans against a pedestal, nonchalantly holding a crown of roses. At her feet, a willow basket covered with a bronze-coloured cloth contains a few rosebuds. In front of this are two doves, billing and cooing, while flowers are scattered on the ground and on the socle. Trinquesse here offers us a work that combines French Baroque, in its subject matter, with emerging Neoclassicism.

The painting is a rediscovered work previously known only through early photographs. It was documented at the Witt Library in the Courtauld as a portrait of Princess Ekaterina Petrovna Troubetskaya, who became Ekaterina Petrovna Stroganova following her marriage, in 1769, to Count Alexander Sergeyevich Stroganov. She apparently spent some time in Paris, which would explain a commission to the artist. Trinquesse here expresses her sensibility and pays particular attention to the psychological character of this elegant young woman, whose pose and expression are carefully studied.

In its composition, this work is reminiscent of the Sermon of Love (1786, Dijon, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon, inv. DE 23) and Offering to Venus (1786, Dijon, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon, inv. DE 22), both by the same artist. They all share a setting that features a tholos and are notable for the care taken with fabrics and draperies, the silk and gleaming satin accurately rendered. The artist plays on the metallic effects of greys, blues and pinks to convey the reflections and plays of light, capturing the viewer’s attention.