Lot Essay
The sitter, Jean-Elizabeth, was the daughter of Jean de Sellon, a prominent Genévois merchant. She was born in 1705 and married in Geneva in 1726 Sir Charles Tyrrell, 7th Baronet (of two creations) of Thornton. He had succeeded his brother in 1720 and was to serve for many years as British Consul at Constantinople. He died in 1749, when the baronecy became extinct.
On 3 April 1738, Liotard embarked at Naples with William Ponsonby, subsequently Viscount Duncannon and 2nd Earl of Bessborough, and John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich. They reached Constantinople in August and Liotard was to remain in the city until September 1742. The influence of Ponsonby and Sandwich ensured that he was quickly taken up in the small mercantile community at Pera. This pastel of his Genévois compatriot Lady Tyrrell was no doubt one of the commissions that helped to establish his reputation. Liotard's ability as a portraitist was soon recognized and a handful of other portrait pastels of the period survive, including those of Richard Pococke, the traveller; the Marquess of Granby who visited Constantinople on an extended Grand Tourin 1740; Cornelis Calkoen, the Dutch Ambassador, and the French Claude-Alexandre, Comte de Bonneval known as Achmet Pacha who had become a Muslim in 1729 on entering the service of the Sublime Porte. Liotard also painted Margaret Coote, the daughter of Tyrrell's fellow merchant and colleague, the Consul at Smyrna.
Liotard's experience of Constantinople had a dramatic effect on his development. The exquisite pencil drawings of ladies in Turkish costume and the series of pastels developed from these autograph versions helped to consolidate his international reputation. As he recorded himself on the self-portrait of 1744 now in the Uffizi, Liotard was known as 'le peintre Turc', and he continued on occasion to affect Turkish costume.
The portrait of Lady Tyrrell is indoubtedly one of the milestones of Liotard's career. The importance he attached to it is indicated by the existence of an autograph replica which remained in his possession. It passed to Mademoiselle M.A. Liotard who bequeathed it with other works to the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam in 1873 (Loche and Roethlisberger, op. cit., no. 37). Loche and Roethlisberger characterize the Amsterdam version as being 'meno rifinito' than the present pastel, the priority of which is confirmed by pentimenti, notably in the outline of the left arm and the position of the little finger of the right hand
Estimate on request
On 3 April 1738, Liotard embarked at Naples with William Ponsonby, subsequently Viscount Duncannon and 2nd Earl of Bessborough, and John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich. They reached Constantinople in August and Liotard was to remain in the city until September 1742. The influence of Ponsonby and Sandwich ensured that he was quickly taken up in the small mercantile community at Pera. This pastel of his Genévois compatriot Lady Tyrrell was no doubt one of the commissions that helped to establish his reputation. Liotard's ability as a portraitist was soon recognized and a handful of other portrait pastels of the period survive, including those of Richard Pococke, the traveller; the Marquess of Granby who visited Constantinople on an extended Grand Tourin 1740; Cornelis Calkoen, the Dutch Ambassador, and the French Claude-Alexandre, Comte de Bonneval known as Achmet Pacha who had become a Muslim in 1729 on entering the service of the Sublime Porte. Liotard also painted Margaret Coote, the daughter of Tyrrell's fellow merchant and colleague, the Consul at Smyrna.
Liotard's experience of Constantinople had a dramatic effect on his development. The exquisite pencil drawings of ladies in Turkish costume and the series of pastels developed from these autograph versions helped to consolidate his international reputation. As he recorded himself on the self-portrait of 1744 now in the Uffizi, Liotard was known as 'le peintre Turc', and he continued on occasion to affect Turkish costume.
The portrait of Lady Tyrrell is indoubtedly one of the milestones of Liotard's career. The importance he attached to it is indicated by the existence of an autograph replica which remained in his possession. It passed to Mademoiselle M.A. Liotard who bequeathed it with other works to the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam in 1873 (Loche and Roethlisberger, op. cit., no. 37). Loche and Roethlisberger characterize the Amsterdam version as being 'meno rifinito' than the present pastel, the priority of which is confirmed by pentimenti, notably in the outline of the left arm and the position of the little finger of the right hand
Estimate on request