40 - Jacques-Augustin Catherine PAJOU (Paris 1766–1828)

Jacques-Augustin Catherine PAJOU (Paris 1766–1828) Portrait of Pierre Yveon Barré (1749–1832), vaudeville actor and theater director Original canvas and stretcher. Signed on the left: Pajou fils / 1804 / Year XIII. On the letter held by the subject, the following can be read: “Mr. Guillaume, or The Traveler, inco…” 74 x 59 cm Provenance Auction, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, December 18, 1950 (Maître Boscher). Related Works Engraving by Antoine Achille Bourgeois de la Richardière (1777–1830) depicting Barré, Desfontaines, and Radet, titled: “The Three Brothers Are as One.” This engraving, created in 1814, was based on a drawing by Antoine Paul Vincent; his plaster profile by Borrel (1804–1882), held at the Carnavalet Museum (inv. S600); a portrait of Barré by Davesnes, exhibited at the 1796 Salon under no. 116 bis, is cited by Villiers and Capelle (Deloynes no. 487): *The Rhapsodists at the Salon, or Vaudeville Paintings*, with the following verses: "Air: I saw the miller’s wife / it would be rather unchivalrous / not to compose / a little verse in passing / To the one who so cheerfully / Usually creates / charming operas." Bibliography: Philippe Nusbaumer, Jacques-Augustin-Catherine Pajou (1766–1828): Painter of History and Portraits, 1997, cat. no. 53, reproduced in fig. 9. Pierre-Yvon Barré (1749–1832), a lawyer and court clerk in Pau, abandoned his legal career for the stage in 1780, achieving success with *Cassandre, the Optician*. In 1792, he took over as director of the Théâtre du Vaudeville, forming a creative trio with Desfontaines and Radet. *Arlequin afficheur*, their signature play, delighted audiences over the course of more than seven hundred performances. Their body of work spanned a vast repertoire of vaudeville plays—hybrid creations blending traces of a carnival past with elements that foreshadowed 19th-century vaudeville. Despite a controversial start with the police, Barré managed to regain Napoleon’s favor after entertaining his officers in Boulogne in 1805. His relationship with the painter Pajou took shape at the premiere of *Lantara, or The Painter at the Cabaret* in 1809. After directing the Vaudeville until 1815, Barré retired to the countryside, remaining devoted to the theater. He died in 1832 of cholera, leaving behind a theatrical legacy rich in successes and artistic connections.