Autoportrait Place Vendôme in many ways encapsulates the confluence of Bernard Boutet de Monvel’s artistic aspirations—his penchant for architectural precision and his acute ability to render portraits with photographic accuracy. This highly finished self-portrait is rare to Boutet de Monvel’s oeuvre in that, as he writes, he was his own client. The second work, Boutet’s Portrait H. H. the Maharaja d'Indore is imbued with all the glamor and sleekness of both the Art Deco period and of the sitter himself. The sitter for the present Portrait, H. H. the Maharaja of Indore, was a member of the Holkar dynasty of the Marathas.
Both works will be offered in the Modern Evening Auction on 14 November as a part of the New York Sales at Sotheby’s.
