178 - Jean-Baptiste CLAUDOT DE NANCY (1733–1805)

Jean-Baptiste CLAUDOT DE NANCY (1733–1805) Rural Landscape Oil on canvas 97 x 114 cm. Label Provenance According to family tradition, this work was reportedly given by the artist to Sigisbert, Baron Rolland de Malleloy (1765–1850), owner of the Château de Clévant (Custines, Meurthe-et-Moselle), and has been passed down through the family to the present day. A student of Jean Girardet (1709–1778), Jean-Baptiste Claudot, known as Claudot de Nancy, was a painter and decorator from Lorraine, born into the nobility of the robe. He is famous for his landscapes featuring ancient ruins, in the style of the 17th-century Venetian painters and Hubert Robert. Our painting, in addition to being characteristic of the artist’s style, seems to be a touching testament to his circle of friends among Lorraine’s high society. Indeed, the oral family tradition preserved among the descendants of the Rolland de Malleloy family recounts the painter’s regular visits, between 1773 and 1779, to the Château de Clévant in Custine (Meurthe-et-Moselle), of which he would later paint a view (private collection, current location unknown). The family’s residence since 1755, when it was acquired from Prince Esterházy, Clévant was a house that enjoyed a fine reputation among Lorraine’s literati, as Baron Guerrier de Dumast wrote: “The lovely Clévant, where one enjoys a view such as poets dream of in their idylls. Situated at the confluence of the Meurthe and the Moselle, the estate of Clévant—which belongs to the amiable Rolland de Malleloy family, worthy of inhabiting such cheerful and peaceful surroundings—offers every kind of rural charm, and does so with a harmony perhaps unmatched anywhere else; as it takes in, above and below its gardens, on one side the forests that crown the mountain, and on the other, the beautiful meadows through which two rivers wind. From the windows of the parlor, situated halfway up the hillside—or, better yet, from the edge of the woods, if one wishes to go up there—the eye is treated to a view that seems to have been arranged for one’s pleasure.” (Nancy: History and Panorama. Nancy: Vagner, 1847) The Rollands of Malleloy, related to the Choiseuls, the Vitrys, and the Stainvilles, held positions in the high administration of the Duchy of Lorraine during the 18th century: Provincial Treasurer of the Extraordinary War Fund in Lorraine and Barrois, Attorney General of Lorraine, Advocate General at the Parliament, member of the Nancy City Council, the Electoral College, and the General Council of Meurthe, etc. Among their allied families were: d'Argouges, Armand, Arnoux de Maison Rouge, d'Avezac de Moran, de Banville, Barbey, Baudet, Bazaud, de Beaucorps, de Beaudrap, Bellin, de Benoist de Gentissart, Benoit, Bernard de Courville, Berthe de Pommery, de Beuverand de La Loyère, de Bizemont, Boissinot, Bonamy, Boraud, Boulangé, Bourdeau de Fontenay, Boutet, de Bouvier Mathieu de Vienne, de Bouët du Portal, Boyer, Bramaud du Boucheron, Brault, Bro-Marie-Saint-Germain, de Broc, Burin des Roziers, Bédier, Bérard, de Cacqueray-Valmenier, Carrelet de Loisy, Carroll, de Cassagne de Beaufort de Miramon Fitz-James, de Castelbajac, de Castellane, de Chalon, Chambris, Champigny, Chatelus, Chaudru de Raynal, Chevallier, Choppin de Seraincourt, Conrard, de Cordoüe, Coulon, de Courtois d’Arcollières, du Couëdic de Kerérant, Coûteaux, de Cussy, Daney de Marcillac, Dembinski, Derély, Devezeaux de Lavergne, Didion, Dufer, Dumouchel de Prémare, Durant de La Pastellière-Neuilly, Duret, Durieux, Elouni, England, Errembault du Maisnil et du Coutre, Etcheberry, Ferrer, Fournial, Fournié, Gallineau, van Gaver, Giscard d’Estaing, Gonin, de Gouberville, de Gélis, Génin, d’Halluin, du Hamel de Fougeroux, Haussy, Hervouët, Hervé, Houïtte de La Chesnais, Imbrecht, Jacobé de Haut de Sigy, Jounet, Jullien, Jurkoviak, Karatchentzef, Kress, L'Honneur, de La Fage, de La Tousche, Lachenal, de Lambilly, Laurentin, Law, Le Boulenger de Bizemont, Le Bret, Le Clercq de Lannoy, Le Masson, Le Mercier de Maisoncelle-Vertille de Richemont, Le Provost de Saint-Jean, Lefebvre de Laboulaye, de Lescure Saint-Denis, Lhoyer, de Lille de Loture, Léon, Lütze, Magon de La Villehuchet, de Mahuet, de Malglaive, Margalet de Laval, Mathieu de Vienne, McCallum, Merlin, Merlin d’Estreux de Beaugrenier, de Metz, Meyer, Meynard, Michaud, Michel, de Montesquiou Fezensac d’Artagnan, de Montety, Morel de Lacolombe de Lachapelle d’Apcher, Morot, de Moucheron, Mulsant, N, de Narp, de Nonancourt, Normand, Noël, Palewski, de Panafieu, Parriaux, du Passage, Pasté de Rochefort, Patas d’Illiers, Paul-Cavallier, Peltier, Pin, Pinglet, Pocard du Cosquer de Kerviler, Pommereuil, Ponsoye, Rabasté, Rabault, Racine, Raisson, de Ravinel, Robert, Rolland, Rolland de Malleloy, Rollet, Rousteau, de Scorraille, Semen, Serra, de Sevin, de Solages, Sollogoub, de Tanoüarn, de Tarade de Corbeilles, Tasso de Saxe-Coburg, and