ERRATA // Jean-Baptiste Marie PIERRE

ERRATA It is specified that Nicolas Lesur, specialist of Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre and author of the catalog raisonné, must carry out a complementary physical examination of the work. The buyer may, if he wishes, wait for the outcome of this examination. The Triumph of Diana, Goddess of the Hunt, sketch Oil on canvas 72 x 82 cm PROVENANCE M. Roggero, composer, harpsichordist and music teacher, Rue du Petit-Versailles, Toulouse, from 1781; France, private collection until 2013; France, private collection. EXHIBITION Toulouse, Le Capitole, Salon de l'Académie royale de Toulouse, from 19 May 1781, no 76. BIBLIOGRAPHY Catalog des Tableaux et autres Ouvrages relatifs aux Beaux-Arts, Dont on a formé le Salon de Peinture, dans une des Salles du Capitole, Toulouse, 1781, no 76. R. Mesuret, Les Expositions de l'Académie Royale de Toulouse de 1751 0 1791 : Livrets publiés et annotés, Toulouse, 1972, p. 383, n° 4118. P. Sanchez, Dictionnaire des artistes exposant dans les salons des XVII et XVIIIe siècles à Paris et en province, Dijon, 2004, III, p. 1369. Nicolas Lesur and Olivier Aaron, Jean-Baptiste-Marie Pierre, 1714 - 1789 : Premier peintre du roi, Paris, 2009, no *P.267, Le Repos de Diane et des nymphes. Painter, engraver and draughtsman, Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre was the son of a jeweler who, at a very young age, entered the studio of the painter Natoire (1700-1777). A master to whom he remained stylistically close throughout his career, he was present in his workshop until 1734, when he won the Grand Prix with Dalila cutting Samson's hair and left to complete his training in the Eternal City where he remained until 1740. The Académie de France in Rome was then directed by Jean-François de Troy (1679 - 1752) and Nicolas Vleughels (1668 - 1737), painters whose methods and style favored a certain academic continuity in his learning of painting. The presence of Vleughels in Rome also encouraged Pierre to practice drawing landscapes and surroundings. He awakened in him a genuine interest in genre painting, a discipline that was then minor but which he loved and practiced throughout his life. On his return to Paris, he applied to the Academy where he was accepted in 1742, taught there from 1744 and became its director on the death of François Boucher (1703 - 1770); at the same time, he was appointed painter to the King, thus completing all the honors that a painter was able to receive during his lifetime. From Italy, he not only retained a taste for genre scenes, but also for the great compositions of the Baroque period, the most striking examples of which are found on the vaults and ceilings of churches and palaces. Following his liking, he quickly became known as a virtuoso of the genre and was asked to work in Paris with members of the court who wished to bring their homes up to date. In 1752, he became the first painter of the king's cousin, Louis-Philippe d'Orléans and also obtained the favors of Madame de Pompadour, favorite of Louis XV and of his brother the Marquis de Marigny. Director of the King's Buildings, the latter gave him numerous commissions for the castle of Fontainebleau (1749), the Royal Palace (1754 - 1755), the dome of the chapel of the Virgin in the church of Saint-Roch in Paris (1756) and the castle of Saint-Cloud (1769). His taste for ceilings can be seen in one of his portraits that Guillaume Voiriot (1713 - 1799) made when he had to deliver two pieces of reception. In this portrait, Pierre, palette and brushes in hand, is captured at work in his studio. On an easel rests the modello that one guesses to be that of a ceiling, a clear indication of his attachment to the genre. Most of these works have been destroyed over time and remain as witnesses, with the exception of one, only modelli of the artist. Their preparatory sketches, traditionally presented to the commissioner before the final execution, are a real gap in our understanding of 18th century ceiling painting in France, allowing us to guess at the scope and strength of the work. Some of these projects reappear on the market from time to time, such as a Project for a Ceiling with the Chariot of Apollo, the Dawn and the Allegories of the Seasons (Aguttes, Paris, September 16, 2018, no. 55); an Apotheosis of Psyche (Maastricht - Netherlands - Tefaf, 2022); or the sketch we present here. Like Lemoyne (1688 - 1737) for the ceiling of the Salon d'Hercule at Versailles (1733 - 1736; Fig. 1), the composition is arranged around the square delimited by the shape of the room, while the deity in honor makes a breakthrough towards the middle, presented under a canopy. In the same spirit, the painter seeks to integrate his composition as naturally as possible into the place by extending the architecture of the building with feigned elements on which the figures rest. ERRATA Il est précisé que Nicolas Lesur, spécialiste de Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre et auteur du catalogue raisonné, doit réaliser un examen physique complémentaire de l'œuvre. L'acquéreur pourra, s'il le désire, attendre l'issue de cet examen.