7 - Alexandre Kucharski (1741–1819), attributed to.

Alexandre Kucharski (1741–1819), attributed to. Portrait of King Louis XVI. Oil on canvas. In a gilded wooden frame from the Restoration period. H. 60 x W. 49 cm (canvas). H. 75 x W. 65 cm (frame). History A painter of Polish origin, Alexandre Kucharski was already established in Paris by 1765, where he continued his training under Carle Van Loo and Joseph-Marie Vien, thanks to a stipend granted by King Stanislas-Auguste Poniatowski. In 1776, he entered the service of the Prince of Condé (Neil Jeffares, *Pastels & Pastellists*, online edition). Specializing in portraiture, he enjoyed a solid reputation under the Ancien Régime and succeeded Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun as court portraitist after her hasty departure in 1789. He is the artist behind the portraits created during the tragic final hours of Louis XVI’s reign. Receiving a pension from Louis XVIII until his death, Kucharski continued to work for an aristocratic clientele who commissioned him to create replicas of the portraits of the prisoners of the Temple, some of which still exist today in the families of the descendants of loyal servants of the royal family. His body of work includes very few signed pieces. A stylistic analysis suggests that this painting is, in all likelihood, an autograph replica. Related Work Aleksander Kucharski, Portrait of Louis XVI, Coutau-Bégarie auction, February 22, 2017, lot 104 (sold for €63,200). Bibliography - Jerzy Mycielski, Aleksander Kucharski, Kraków, 1898, p. 25. - Marguerite Jallut, Marie-Antoinette and Her Painters, Paris, [n.d., c. 1955], pp. 56–57. - Zygmunt Batowski, Aleksander Kucharski, Warsaw, 1948. - Raymond Fournier-Sarlovèze, “The Painters of Stanisław August II, King of Poland: Aleksander Kucharski,” *Revue de l’art ancien et moderne*, vol. XIX, January 1906, p. 31.