JEAN-BAPTISTE LEFEBVRE (Paris, avant 1719-après 1779)

PORTRAIT OF MARIE-THÉRÈSE GIRARD, NÉE BOUCHARDON 1747 Oil on canvas (tear repaired) On the back, signed and dated: "J. B. Lefebvre pinxit Xbre 1747" Titled on a copper plate from the previous frame, reattached to the back of the present frame Louis XV 82 x 65 cm (with frame: 108 x 92 cm) Provenance Former collection of the Baroness de Montessuy, 19th century Private collection, Paris, since 2012 This portrait of Marie-Thérèse Girard, née Bouchardon, shows her at work, reeling and spinning. She is the sister of the sculptor Edme Bouchardon (1698-1762), married to François Girard, a Parisian bourgeois. Comfortably seated in her armchair, she has put on a black silk apron over a costume that leaves no doubt about her social standing. Her hair is concealed under a light bonnet held in place by a blue satin ribbon, her throat covered with a lavaliere that cascades down her jonquil silk dress with three-quarter length sleeves, trimmed with lace. If by the subject our painting can be compared to the portrait of Mademoiselle Lefèvre, drawn by Carmontelle (fig. 1), our painter shows on the other hand a greater sense of the picturesque. The various walnut and brass parts of the spinning wheel are clearly visible under his brush. Madame Girard operates the mechanism with her right hand while she guides the thread with her left hand to her distaff, which she has firmly anchored in her bodice. Jean-Baptiste Lefèbvre was a juror and was regularly called upon to judge the quality of oil paintings or miniatures in trials at the Châtelet de Paris. The son of a master, he became a master on 10 September 1751 by virtue of his experience. He was indeed a renowned portraitist in the 18th century. Several of his oil paintings are now in the Versailles collections, including the portrait of Jacques du Val d'Esprémesnil, syndic of the Compagnie des Indes, dated 1738. He married Geneviève Lemenu in 1740, the daughter of the master watchmaker Étienne Lemenu, with whom he lived on Quai Pelletier. He became a professor at the Académie de Saint-Luc and played a key role in the training of Gabriel Jean Louis Rabigot (circa 1753- 1834), the famous genre painter he apprenticed to from 1769 to 1774. Additional information provided by the collector can be accessed by QR Code in the PDF.