23/3/14 - Acquisitions - Paris, Muse du Louvre - The Dpartement des Arts Graphiques at the Muse du Louvre this afternoon pre-empted two pastel portraits by Elisabeth Vige Le Brun representing respectively Louis-Philippe dOrlans and Madame de Montesson for 52,000 (before charges) at Versailles-Enchres[ 1 ]
1. lisabeth Vige Le Brun (1755-1842)
Portrait of Louis-Philippe dOrlans , 1779
Pastel - 80 x 63 cm
Paris, Muse du Louvre
Photo: Versailles Enchres
2. lisabeth Vige Le Brun (1755-1842)
Portrait of Mmede Montesson , 1779
Pastel - 80 x 63 cm
Paris, Muse du Louvre
Photo: Versailles Enchres
As explained by the remarkable Dictionary of pastellists before 1800 posted online by Neil Jeffares and obviously updated scrupulously (todays auction is mentioned there), these works were almost sold as anonymous by the same auctioneers with an estimate of 2 to 3,000 on 24 November 2013, before being withdrawn[ 2 ]. They are, however, signed and dated in pencil on the right, Mde Lebrun 1779 . These pastels were therefore unpublished before today. The information provided here was taken from the catalogue entry for the auction (written with the help of Neil Jeffares).
Louis-Philippe dOrlans, known as "le Gros" [the fat one], the father of Philippe-Egalit and the grandfather of Louis-Philippe, married his mistress Madame de Montesson in 1773 after he lost his wife. But this marriage, finally authorized by Louis XV, remained morganatic and secret since his new wife could not assume the title of Duchess of Orleans. These two portraits are mentioned in 1779 in the " Liste des tableaux que javais faits avant de quitter la France in 1789 " [the list of paintings I produced before leaving France in 1789] established by Elisabeth Vige Le Brun in her mmoires[ 3 ] ( Monseigneur le duc dOrlans, Madame la marquise de Montesson ).
A smaller version of the portrait of the Duke dOrlans (without its companion piece), from a private collection, was exhibited at the Kimbell Museum of Fort Worth in 1982. Since the same type of frame can be found on other paintings by the artist, it seems quite likely that these are originals.
The Louvres new acquisitions will no doubt be put on display in the retrospective highlighting Elisabeth Vige Le Brun in late 2015 at the Grand Palais in Paris. (emphasis added)
, dimanche 23 mars 2014
Notes
[ 1 ] Our thanks to Juliette Trey (@JulTrey) for her tweets which informed us of the purchase, as it was happening.
[ 2 ] Lot n117, but the reference was removed from the Versailles-Enchres website.
[ 3 ] Elisabeth Vige Le Brun, Souvenirs , text, presentation and notes by Genevive Haroche-Bouzinac, Honor Champion, Paris, 2008.
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Sounds like good news! I love Vige Lebrun's works and I look forward for this future display, even if I can only see it through photos :p
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updated by @leopoldina: 06 Oct 2016 06:28:46AM
