FRENCH SCHOOL circa 1700 - Lot 55

Lot n° 55
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Estimation :
25000 - 30000 EUR
Result with fees
Result : 131 875EUR
FRENCH SCHOOL circa 1700 - Lot 55
FRENCH SCHOOL circa 1700 A panther being walked by a young man in a landscape Oak panel, two boards, not parqueted 40 x 35.5 cm Biedermeier frame, Austrian work circa 1820 Old restorations Our painting attests to the presence of a panther in France around 1700. It may have been the one presented to Louis XIV in 1682 by the Sultan of Morocco. Initially sent to the Menagerie de Vincennes to take part in animal fights, the feline was transferred to Versailles in the early 18th century, probably around 1700. Few great personalities owned felines at the time. Domesticated panthers were present in the menagerie of Duke Ferdinand II de' Medici in Florence. Emperor Leopold I had several cheetahs with which he hunted. Under Louis XIV in France, wild beasts, felines and other ferocious beasts were kept in the Menagerie de Vincennes, created by Louis XIV and Mazarin in 1658. The Menagerie de Vincennes was abandoned in favor of the Ménagerie de Versailles (built in 1664), around 1700. In 1685, there were five felines at the Menagerie de Versailles. Infrared reflectography shows the high quality of the animal's drawing, with indentations in the legs and tail. The drawing of the landscape and the child is treated differently, brushed more quickly. The contours of the child around the animal are distinct, the child's right foot is separated from the animal's leg by a few millimeters, the child's right hand is resting on the panther, without clearly touching it, the ribbon he is holding in his left hand is not visible on the panther's collar. In addition, the panel is assembled in an unusual way (vertical assembly). This means that the painting was probably produced in two stages, by two artists: one specialist for the animal, another artist for the figure and landscape. The author of our painting follows in the footsteps of two Flemish artists such as Martin de Vos (Portrait of a panther painted in 1572, panel, 137 x 136.5 cm, in the Staatliches Museum, Schwerin), Jan Brueghel the Younger (same panther in his Paradiso Terrestre in the Prado Museum, Madrid, copper 40 x 50 cm), Nicasius Bernaerts and Pieter Boel, who were present at the Menagerie de Versailles in the 1660s and 1670s. Flemish painters active in Paris have been suggested, Victor-honoré Janssens, Pieter Rijsbraeck. Reference bibliography : Les Animaux du Roi exhibition catalog, edited by Alexandre Maral and Nicolas Milovanovic, Versailles, Château de Versailles from October 12, 2021 to February 13, 2022.
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