Jean-Baptiste Marie PIERRE (1714-1789)

Lot 5
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Estimation :
6000 - 8000 EUR
Jean-Baptiste Marie PIERRE (1714-1789)
The Chinese Masquerade made in Rome the Carnival of the year 1735 by Gentlemen boarders of the King of France in his Academy of Arts. circa 1735 Black stone on paper 34,4 x 51 cm. "I will say to you to have wanted the carnival of Rome, which is an admirable choze by the despance which the Romans make: all gold carts and the prince fesant the coachman and throws sugared almonds between them; that lasts 8 days and each day of different choze; I cannot express you the beauties, one comes voluntarily of more than 400 leagues to see that" Letter of Bernard-Claude Deshays, gentleman from Rouen to his father, February 21, 1701. Winner of the Grand Prix de peinture de l'Académie in 1734, with Dalila cutting Samson's hair (present location unknown), the young Pierre (fig. 1.) was allowed to join the Académie de France in Rome, then under the direction of the painter Nicolas Vleughels (1688-1737). He arrived at Palazzo Mancini, the seat of the Academy, located on the Corso, in June 1735. A few months before, the students of the Academy had participated in the famous Carnival of Rome, heir to the ancient Saturnalia, which lasted 8 days of festivities and excesses. The decoration of the chariot and the Chinese costumes testify to a curiosity for this distant civilization, a curiosity that grew throughout the next century. Unknown until its rediscovery in 2010, our drawing is to be linked to the engraving, dedicated to the Duke of Saint-Aignan (1684-1776), French ambassador to the Holy See, whose letter gives the paternity to Pierre (fig. 2). A technical tour de force, as well as a unique visual testimony of the Carnival of 1735, this engraving is among the most successful of the painter's work. The status of our drawing is difficult to situate with certainty: it is likely that it is a first thought, made according to the accounts of the residents, perhaps also in front of the motif of the still existing chariot, the finished drawing,
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