Lot Essay
Dumont knew Alexander Roslin, Marie-Suzanne's husband, for nine years before the present drawing was executed: they had met in 1761 when Dumont was asked to paint a pendant to Roslin's Louis XV, après sa maladie et son retour de Metz, est reçu à l'Hôtel de Ville, G.W. Lundberg, Roslin, Liv och verk, Malmö, 1957, p. 64. Another version of the present pastel by Marie-Suzanne Roslin was given by Roslin to the Academy in 1786, five years after Dumont's death and fourteen years after that of his wife. The pastel is now in Versailles, G.W. Lundberg, op. cit., p. 144, illustrated.
Alexander Roslin had met Marie-Suzanne Giroust when she was studying with Vien in 1754. He asked her to marry him and thanks to the help of the Comte de Caylus he was able to, but only five years later, on 8 January 1759. She was a pastelist and portrayed Pigalle, Hall's wife, Hubert Robert's wife and her children.
Maurice-Quentin de la Tour's also portrayed Dumont for his morceau de réception at the Académie Royale de Peinture in 1748, G. Monnier, Pastels XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, Paris, 1972, no. 64, illustrated. La Tour had already executed another portrait of Dumont six years earlier.
Jacques Dumont was called le Romain not only because of the trip to Italy he went on in the early 1720s but also so as not to be confused with a homonym painter. He did not have a very successful career and is described by Mariette as 'Il a de la dureté dans son dessin quoyque correct, et peu de finesse dans ses expressions. Sa couleur n'est pas mauvaise, et c'est ce qui plaît davantage dans ses tableaux. Son caractère caustique et sauvage n'étoit pas fait pour la société. Il n'a pu rompre et tout le monde l'a craint et l'a fuit; c'est dommage, car il a du sens', P.J. Mariette, Abecedario de P.J. Mariette..., compilé en 1740-1770. Edité et publié par Philippe de Chennevières et Anatole de Montaiglon, Bulletin de la société de l'histoire de l'art français, 1851-1860, II, p. 153.
Alexander Roslin had met Marie-Suzanne Giroust when she was studying with Vien in 1754. He asked her to marry him and thanks to the help of the Comte de Caylus he was able to, but only five years later, on 8 January 1759. She was a pastelist and portrayed Pigalle, Hall's wife, Hubert Robert's wife and her children.
Maurice-Quentin de la Tour's also portrayed Dumont for his morceau de réception at the Académie Royale de Peinture in 1748, G. Monnier, Pastels XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, Paris, 1972, no. 64, illustrated. La Tour had already executed another portrait of Dumont six years earlier.
Jacques Dumont was called le Romain not only because of the trip to Italy he went on in the early 1720s but also so as not to be confused with a homonym painter. He did not have a very successful career and is described by Mariette as 'Il a de la dureté dans son dessin quoyque correct, et peu de finesse dans ses expressions. Sa couleur n'est pas mauvaise, et c'est ce qui plaît davantage dans ses tableaux. Son caractère caustique et sauvage n'étoit pas fait pour la société. Il n'a pu rompre et tout le monde l'a craint et l'a fuit; c'est dommage, car il a du sens', P.J. Mariette, Abecedario de P.J. Mariette..., compilé en 1740-1770. Edité et publié par Philippe de Chennevières et Anatole de Montaiglon, Bulletin de la société de l'histoire de l'art français, 1851-1860, II, p. 153.