A PORTRAIT OF MONSIEUR AUBERT BY NICOLAS DE LARGILLIERE, (FRENCH 1656-1746) oil on canvas laid on panel Monsieur Aubert, General Director of the Bridges and Roads of France, three-quarter-length, by a writing table Inscribed A Monsieur/M*nsi*** Aubert/Controlle* général des Ponts/ Chaussée de france (lower left) 134.5 x 103cm; 53 x 40½in Provenance Arnold S. Kirkeby (1901-1962) By whom given to Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1955 By whom sold, Sotheby's, New York, 10 January 1991, lot 82 Christie's, London, 7 July 2010, lot 186, where purchased after the sale by the executors of the late Edmund de Rothschild (1916-2009); The Trustees of Exbury House Literature R. Brown, Bulletin of the Art Division, Los Angeles County Museum, VIII, 1957, pp.8-9, no. 4; S. Schaefer and P. Husco, European Paintings and Sculpture in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles, 1987), p. 53, illustrated, as dated c. 1735; The attribution was confirmed by Dr Dominique Brême, as a work of c.1725-1730, as at the date of the 2010 sale. Catalogue Note