Null Nicolas de LARGILLIERRE (Paris 1656 - 1746)
Portrait of a woman with a fan
…
Description

Nicolas de LARGILLIERRE (Paris 1656 - 1746) Portrait of a woman with a fan Canvas 92 x 72.5 cm Signed and dated on reverse 1740 before lining Provenance : Alphonse Kann sale, Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, December 6-8, 1920, no. 42, reproduced; Acquired at this sale by M. Guérault (f37,100). In this portrait, from the last years of the painter's career, the sitter is captured with striking emotional depth. Largillierre's depiction of an elderly lady is quite rare in his output. The sobriety of the depiction lends the model an authority that is accentuated by the expression on her face. The simplicity of the pose and colors, the authority of the frank, direct gaze, allude to earlier portraits: Rembrandt and the Regentes by Frans Hals. We would like to thank Mr. Dominique Brême for confirming the painting's authenticity. It will be included in the catalog raisonné currently in preparation.

173 

Nicolas de LARGILLIERRE (Paris 1656 - 1746) Portrait of a woman with a fan Canvas 92 x 72.5 cm Signed and dated on reverse 1740 before lining Provenance : Alphonse Kann sale, Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, December 6-8, 1920, no. 42, reproduced; Acquired at this sale by M. Guérault (f37,100). In this portrait, from the last years of the painter's career, the sitter is captured with striking emotional depth. Largillierre's depiction of an elderly lady is quite rare in his output. The sobriety of the depiction lends the model an authority that is accentuated by the expression on her face. The simplicity of the pose and colors, the authority of the frank, direct gaze, allude to earlier portraits: Rembrandt and the Regentes by Frans Hals. We would like to thank Mr. Dominique Brême for confirming the painting's authenticity. It will be included in the catalog raisonné currently in preparation.

Auction is over for this lot. See the results

You may also like

Circle of NICOLÁS DE LARGILLIÈRE; early 18th century. "Portrait of a lady. Oil on canvas. Re-drawn. It has faults. It has a frame with faults from the 19th century. Measurements: 82 x 61 cm; 113 x 94 cm (frame). Portrait on indeterminate background of an elegant lady of high class, as it is possible to suppose so much for the dress, of low neckline, decorated with fine lace, and for her powdered wig. The lady's gaze is firmly fixed on the viewer, which adds character to the work and conveys to the viewer a feature about the psychological aspect of the lady that goes beyond the merely pictorial. The quality of the master responsible for the painting is also clear: first, in the economy of means, which keeps the viewer's attention focused on the lady (something to which the neutral background of the painting and the tonal interplay between the dress and the lady's pale skin also contribute); second, in the quality of the drawing used, especially on the face (drawing that predominates over colour and brushstrokes, as was usual in 19th-century art derived from the Neoclassicism of the Academies of Fine Arts). These works must have been executed by a painter belonging to the circle of the master Nicolas de Largilliere, one of the most important French portraitists of the time. In both works we can recognise various stylistic traits similar to those of the artist and his circle, such as the careful detail of the hairstyle and its beadwork, as well as in the drawings of the fabrics, the hair and the lace of the clothing. Largillière painted mainly portraits, although he also produced occasional historical, religious, landscapes and still lifes, subjects he worked on with the same technical mastery as his portraits. One of the greatest painters of the Regency and the reign of Louis XV, Largillière is represented in the Louvre, the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery in London, the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the Art Institute of Chicago, among other leading art galleries around the world.