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| Image | Sale date | Auction house | Location | Sale name | Lot No. | Estimate | Price Sold | Condition | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nov 13, 2018 | Artcurial | Paris | Old Master & 19th Century Art | 65 | $****** - ****** | Allegory Of Music: Frontispiece Project For The "Second Book Of Harpsichord Pieces" By Jean-FrançOis Dandrieu |
paintings
31.5 x 23.5 cm (12.4 x 9.25 in)
oil on canvas
An old label on the back
Camille Marcille Collection, before 1876;
His sale, Paris, Hotel Drouot, Me Pillet, 6-7 March 1876, No. 42 (860 francs);
Collection of Madame Kestner, 1877;
Kraemer Collection, before 1913;
His sale, Paris, Georges Petit Gallery, Mes Lair-Dubreuil and Baudoin, April 28-29, 1913, No. 37 (2,400 francs);
Alphonse Kann Collection;
His sale, Paris, Georges Petit Gallery, Me Lair-Dubreuil, 6-8 December 1920, No. 41;
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Baude;
Their sale, Paris, Piasa, June 13, 1997, No. 68;
Louis Grandchamp des Raux Collection, Brussels
E. Véron, "Chronicle of the Hotel Drouot", in 'L'Art', Paris, 1875, t. IV, p. 293
Georges Duplessis, "The collection of Mr. Camille Marcille", in 'The Gazette of Fine Arts', Paris, 1876, t. XIII, p. 427
Emmanuel Bocher, 'French engravings of the eighteenth century or catalog raisonné prints (...) from 1700 to 1800, Nicolas Lancret', Paris, 1877, IVe facs., P. 55, No. 72 and p. 88
Georges Wildenstein, 'Lancret', Paris, 1924, p. 118, No. 711, engraving reproduced in FIG. 171
Marianne Roland-Michel, 'Lajoüe and rock art', Paris, 1984, p. 77 and p. 365, note 63
Mary Tavener Holmes, 'Nicholas Lancret 1690-1743', New York, The Frick Collection, November 19, 1991-January 12, 1992, p. 44 and p. 151, note 74
Mary Tavener Holmes, 'Nicolas Lancret: Dance before a fountain', Los Angeles, The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2006, p. 72 and p. 117, note 107
oil on canvas (Canvas of origin), in grisaille
An old label on the back
Music allegory: frontispiece project, oil on canvas, by N. Lancret
h: 31.50 w: 23.50 cm
Nicolas Lancret's love for the performing arts and music was one of the constants of the work of Antoine Watteau's poetic follower. Entered the workshop of Claude Gillot in 1710 - at the time when the latter was in charge of the direction of the decorations and costumes of the opera - Lancret met Watteau who encouraged him to frequent the theaters to draw there after nature.
He followed this advice to the letter and became a diligent spectator of the Parisian galleries, introduced notably by his friend and future biographer Sylvain Ballot de Sovot1, a lawyer in the Parliament of Paris, writer and librettist close to Rameau and who included many theater personalities and opera among his entourage. Nicolas Lancret met writers, composers, actors and other artists, such as the famous dancers Mademoiselle Sallé and Mademoiselle Camargo, whose portraits he made2.
These are perhaps the traits of the latter, who triumph on stage in Paris from 1726, who inspired those of the allegory of Music to the left of our composition. This delicate little painting, painted in grisaille, is preparatory to the frontispiece of the 'Second book of harpsichord pieces' by Jean-François Dandrieu, brilliant harpsichordist and composer, named organist of the chapel of the king in 1721. This frontispiece was engraved by Charles- Nicolas Cochin in 1728. It is also Lancret who imagines the frontispiece of Dandrieu's 'Third Book of Harpsichord Pieces', published in 1734 (figure 1). There are few differences between the preparatory painting and the engraving of Cochin, except the weapons held by the putto on the right, which are those of France on our composition and those of the Conti on engraving, following the dedication of the work of Dandrieu.
Allegory is a genre that was little represented by Lancret, and here he adapted it to his own sensibility and the taste of his time, making this composition a true synthesis of his art. His figure of Music respects the precepts of Cesare Ripa, holding a lyre and having at his feet a score and various instruments, which make it identifiable. She gracefully raises a curtain to reveal in the background a group of dancers in opera costumes, recalling the training of the painter with Gillot and his taste for the stage. These characters evolve in a poetic garden where there is a bust of wildlife and a Medici vase, which is reminiscent of the setting of the gallant scenes that made the reputation of Lancret following Watteau3. Finally, in the lower part, a cartouche delicately adorned with roses, intended to contain the title and the dedication of the work, testifies to the Rocaille motifs which were then beginning to be diffused. This precious little painting is apart in the work of Nicolas Lancret and constitutes a seductive testimony of the taste of Parisian society at the beginning of the Age of Enlightenment.
1. S. Ballot de Sovot, 'Eloge de Lancret, painter of the King', published by J. Guiffrey, Paris, Society of the History of French Art, 1874.
2. The 'Portrait of the dancer Maria Sallé' is now preserved in Rheinsberg Castle in Germany. We know several versions of 'La Camargo dansant', notably in London at the Wallace Collection or in St Petersburg at the Hermitage Museum.
3. Like his illustrious predecessor, it was as a "painter of gallant festivals" that Lancret was received at the Royal Academy in 1719.
