Lot n° 109
Estimation :
60000 - 80000
EUR
GREUZE, Jean-Baptiste (1725-1805), attribué à
Portrait of Prince Louis-Charles de Bourbon, Dauphin of France, future Louis XVII (1785-1795), younger son of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antinette.
Oil on canvas preserved in an antique carved and gilded wood frame decorated with floral scrolls and arabesques. Bearing on the back the inscription in black ink: "Museum Fine Arts Boston followed by No. 147", a label with the acquisition number 87409 and the annotation: "Prop. of M.F.A. Boston - French School late XVIII century" and another printed label bearing the inscription Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Mass bearing No. 504. The work has been lined and has undergone some restorations as shown in the condition report made by the Artanalysis laboratory which will be given to the buyer. On the other hand, the laboratory in question confirms that this "work has been realized with a lot of know-how, because it has allowed to harmonize the previous interventions by giving back to this beautiful portrait a pleasant reading (...) this mastery of the portrait and the technique of execution can be brought closer to that of the great portrait painters of the XVIIIth century such as Jean-Baptiste Greuze". Sight: H.: 40 cm - L.: 30,5 cm.
Frame: H.: 63 cm - W.: 53,5 cm.
History : this work attributed to the painter Jean-Baptiste Greuze, very famous in his time for his portraits of children in the eighteenth century, is interesting under several aspects. On the one hand, the striking resemblance between this portrait and known works representing the young Dauphin, notably with the portrait attributed to Jeanne-Philiberte Ledoux (1767-1840), presented during the exhibition: "L'enfant chéri au siècle des Lumières", under the n° 53 pages 125 and 126 coming from the Château d'Aulteribe and the two portraits of the Dauphin from the Alain Bancel collection, sold in Paris, on May 21, 2003 at the time of his succession. On the other hand, the pictorial quality of this work, but especially the fineness of the line, the style and the elegance of this portrait remain very close to the work of Greuze. This painting is also to be compared with a portrait painted by Greuze, whose work was engraved by F. Joubert, representing under the features of a young girl in mourning, Madame Royale, sister of the Dauphin and whose facial features are remarkably close to our portrait.
Provenance : This portrait was originally the property of Dr. Georges A. Béthune (1793-1886) who had inherited from his ancestors on his father's side, but also on his mother's side, née Faneuil, an important collection of works of art and objects. This family, originally from the French nobility, dates back to the middle of the eleventh century. It had taken part in the Norman conquest and had been linked throughout the course of history over 40 generations to the most important families of the French, English and Scottish aristocracy. It had also played an important role in the propagation of English colonization in North America. Georges Béthune's parents, who had settled in France, were contemporaries of the painter Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1725-1805) and it is most likely through them that this painting entered the family collection. Many years later, part of this collection was presented for sale on May 27, 1886 in Boston by the auction house Leonard & Co. Our painting was lot 51 in the catalog under the designation, "Jean-Baptiste Greuze, born in Tournus, died in Mâcon (1725-1805), Portrait of a young boy". The work was bought by Georges Auguste Goddard (1844-1920), a dealer in Boston, for 800 dollars. On December 6, 1887, Goddard donated the work to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, as noted in the 1921 catalog of the Museum's collections by Jean Guiffrey, Director of Collections, and John Briggs Potter, Head of the Paintings Department, with a preface by its Director Arthur Fairbanks. This work was registered in 1887 under inventory number 87.409, and described under number 268, as a work attributed to Greuze, representing the head of a young girl. The label on the back of the frame attests to this passage. It is interesting to know that the acquisition (inventory) number of the Boston Museum, founded in 1870, is 87.409, the first two digits corresponding to the year the work entered the Museum's collections. Today the museum has over 500,000 works of art, but when it opened to the public in 1876, it had only 31 works by European painters. In 1992, the museum put its collections up for sale, including this portrait, which was acquired by the current owner in 2013 at an auction.
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