25 - Salomon-Guillaume COUNIS (1785–1859)

Salomon-Guillaume COUNIS (1785–1859) Portrait of a man with sideburns, wearing a black suit and yellow vest, a three-quarter-length portrait facing left. Oval enamel miniature on copper, signed, dated, and inscribed on the reverse: “To the Ladies of Fontenelle, Patrons of the Arts—In Memory and Gratitude—Counis ft—1829.” Height: 6 cm; Width: 5 cm Provenance: - Ney Collection, Prince of Moscowa, in 1923; - His estate sale, Lair-Dubreuil auction house, Hôtel Drouot, May 28, 1929, lot 183, sold for 1,220 francs to Édouard Jonas; - In 1935, Ernest Naef Collection (author of a biography of Counis); - “Royan” Collection. Exhibition: - Exhibition of Glass and Enamel Art, Musée Galliera, Paris, 1923, no. 180 (then in the collection of the Prince of Moskowa). Bibliography: - Ernest NAEF, “Salomon-Guillaume Counis (1785–1859), Painter to H.I.H. the Grand Duchess of Tuscany,” SPES Publishing, Lausanne, 1935, pp. 100–101, reproduced front and back on plate VI. - Léo SCHIDLOF, “The Miniature in Europe…,” 1964, p. 169, reprinted as fig. 261. According to Ernest Naef, the man depicted was likely a relative of the de Fontenelle ladies: “The execution is excellent and displays all the qualities that make our painter one of the finest of the Geneva school.” The identity of the Mesdames de Fontenelle to whom Counis expressed his gratitude before leaving Paris around 1830 has not been established. We find a Mme de Fontenelle mentioned in the correspondence of philhellenes from the same period. Expert: Nathalie Lemoine-Bouchard