Lot n° 10
Estimation :
80000 - 100000
EUR
Jean-Baptiste Marie PIERRE (Paris, 1714 -... - Lot 10 - Ader
Jean-Baptiste Marie PIERRE (Paris, 1714 - 1789)
The Savoyard ; The Savoyard
Pair of paintings
Signed lower left Pierre f.
131,3 x 97,6 cm and 131 x 97,8 cm
Provenance :
- Charles-Nicolas Roland (1729-after 1794), receiver of the sizes in Chartres and cashier of Claude-Henri Watelet.
- Its sale, Paris, Hôtel d'Aligre, April 13, 1780, n° 13 with its counterpart ("a seated man; he is holding the hand of a woman dressed as a peasant: for counterpart a common woman giving the breast to a child and surrounded by four others, paintings by M. Pierre"), sold 201 livres to François-Charles Joullain (1734-1799), art dealer and expert.
- Remained in the same collection from the beginning of the 20th century.
- Millon sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, December 8, 2020, n° 42
Exhibition:
Paris, Salon de 1745, no. 65: "Autre [tableau] de 4 pieds sur 3, représentant une Marmotte avec plusieurs Enfans" (La Savoyarde alone).
Bibliography:
- M. Halbout, J.B.M Pierre, vie et oeuvre, essai de catalog des peintures et dessins, thesis of the École du Louvre, 1970, no. 25.
- G. Faroult, La Vielleuse par Marie-Anne Loir au musée de Riom : fortune d'une iconographie savoyarde, entre peinture et littérature au XVIIIe siècle, in. B.S.H.A.F., Paris, 2003-2004, p. 247-250.
- N. Lesur, O. Aaron, Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre, 1714-1789, Premier peintre du roi, Paris 2009, p. 235-36, P.62 and P.64.
Related works:
Engraved by Nicolas IV de Larmessin (1684-1755) under the title La Savoyarde et Le Savoyard. A copy of the print was exhibited at the Salons of 1746 and 1747. The tablet includes the following quatrain: "Free in my galetas / I command as a princess / My children form my states / Their innocence is my wealth".
Disappeared since the end of the 18th century but still famous thanks to the engravings made by Nicolas de Larmessin, our two paintings perfectly illustrate the diversity of Pierre's work upon his return from Italy. While he did not abandon history painting, which would allow him to take up official positions, the artist secured a varied clientele of great collectors by multiplying genre scenes. Presented in 1745 under the title Une Marmotte avec plusieurs Enfans, la Savoyarde was not yet accompanied by its counterpart, probably painted shortly after. The first depicts a young woman wearing her "marmotte", the name given to the traditional scarf worn by Savoyard women, nursing a baby, surrounded by her four other children. In the second composition, a young couple has settled in the middle of ruins.
Pierre approaches these subjects of popular inspiration as a history painter rather than a genre painter: our canvases are three times larger than the usual size of a painting by Chardin.
Finally, the provenance of our paintings is particularly interesting for what it reveals about the clientele and the background of the art market at the end of the 18th century. Their owner, Charles-Nicolas Roland (1729 - after 1794), was the cashier of Claude-Henri Watelet (1718-1786). The famous amateur was one of Pierre's oldest friends, whom he met in Rome in 1736 and who illustrated for him in 1760 his major work, L'Art de peindre. It is therefore quite possible that our Savoyards entered Roland's collection through Watelet, who was not only his employer but also an intimate. Partner and probably compromised in the financial collapse of Watelet, he saw his goods seized and put up for sale on April 13, 1780. Our two paintings were then bought by the art dealer and expert of the sale, François-Charles Joullain (1734-1799).
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