Lot n° 143
Estimation :
3000 - 4000
EUR
Résultats sans frais
Résultat
: 5 120EUR
Bihi-Almaric de BREHAN comte de PLELO - Lot 143
Bihi-Almaric de BREHAN comte de PLELO
(Saint-Bihy 1734 - Paris 1808)
Portrait of Jean Claude Richard, abbé de Saint-Non
Portrait of Anne-Pauline Le Breton
Pair of pastels
80 x 63 cm
One signed and dated lower right Le Cte de / Brehan / 1773
On the reverse, labels from a London furniture store
Provenance :
Collette de Baudicour Collection;
E.M. Hodgkins Collection;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, June 29, 1934, n°1 ;
Percy Moore Turner Collection;
Chez Cailleux, Paris in 1935.
Bibliography:
L. Réau "L'influence de Fragonard", La Renaissance, January-February 1935, p.4 ;
R. de Limay, Le pastel en France au XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1946, p.164 ;
G. Wildenstein, Les peintures de J.H. Fragonard, Paris, 1960, quoted p.256 under n°246, and quoted under n°241 ;
Catalog of the Fragonard exhibition, Paris, Grand Palais, 1987-88, quoted p.278 under n°133, quoted p.286 under n°138, reproduced fig.1 ;
P. Rosenberg, Tout l'oeuvre peint de Fragonard, Paris, 1989, quoted p.93 under n°203 ;
C. Blumenfeld, Une facétie de Fragonard, Les révélations d'un dessin retrouvé, Montreuil, 2013, pp.32-35, reproduced ;
N. Jeffares, Dictionary of pastellists before 1800, online version consulted October 31, 2023, http://www.pastellists.com/Articles/Brehan.pdf
The first pastel by Bihi-Almaric de Brehan, comte de Plelo, based on a "Figure de fantaisie" by Fragonard, depicts Jean-Claude Richard, abbé de Saint-Non, who, after visiting Holland, Flanders and England, settled in Italy to complete his own encyclopedic project, Voyage pittoresque de Naples et de Sicile, which appeared in five volumes between 1781 and 1786. Jean-Claude Richard met Fragonard during the painter's stay at the Académie de France in Rome from 1756 to 1761, and quickly became a fervent admirer.
According to Jean-Pierre Cuzin, Fragonard's original painting is "one of the most life-filled representations of a human being ever given".
The second pastel, also by the Comte de Plelo, probably depicts Anne-Pauline Le Breton, known for her epistolary exchanges with Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, her first fiancé. The pastel is also a reworking of a painting by Fragonard, who in his canvas depicts her as a cantatrice and plays on the material to create an infinity of straps, paying homage to the Marie de Médicis gallery. However, he also emphasizes the young woman's extreme sensuality: her lascivious pose, the tilt of her head and the detour of her gaze highlight her radiant beauty.
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