.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This is the modello designed by Puget before 14 January 1659 for the tabernacle of The Chapel of Blessed Sacrament in the Cathedral of Saint-Saveur in Toulon (K. Herding, op. cit., no. 10).
The tabernacle, now destroyed, is known through the contract drawn up between Puget and his patrons Pierre Cauderon and Antoine Burgues, rectors of the chapel, and Antoine Laurens, treasurer of the chapel. The contract, which describes the tabernacle in detail and whose description corresponds exactly to the present drawing reads 'L'an mil six cens cinquante neuf et le quatorziesme jour du mois de janvier après midi, stably devant nous notaire et tesmoings Sr Pierre Puget peintre de ceste ville de Tollon, qui de son gré a promis à sieurs Pierre Cauderon et Antoine Burgues, escuirs de ladite ville, recteurs modernes de la chapelle et luminaire de corpus domini erigée dans l'église dudit Tollon avec la presence de sieur Antoine Laurens, bourgeois trésorier de laditte chapelle presens stipulants de fere une custode pour l'ornement et usage de lad. chapelle enrichy du travail et ouvrages du dessain dressé par led. Puget qu'il arriere lui signé par Lesdit parties et conformité et conditions suivantes. Premièrement lade custode sera construite de boyes de noyer, de boys de rose ou boys de pays, con sans aubier, coeur de boys de largeur de dix-sept à dix-huict pans [i.e. circa 425 cm. or 14 feet] d'une extrémité à l'autre, et d'environ quinze pans [i.e. circa 375 cm. or 12 feet 3 inches] d'autheur....lequel il sera tenu d'avoir faict parachevé...dans un an prochain du jourd'hui comptable, moyennant le prix de mil huict cens livres' (K. Herding, op. cit., p. 149 and L. Lagrange, op. cit., pp. 56-7).
The actual work, as well as the wooden modello was executed by Puget's assistant Jean Panon, probably based on the present drawing. The first payment of 600 livres arrived on 4 March 1659, probably when the work began and the second, of 300 livres, on 6 October 1659 (see 'Quittance pour la chapelle Corpus Dominy contre Pierre Puget: L'an mil six cens cinquante neuf le sixieme jour du moi d'octobre avant midy, stably pardevant nous notaire et tesmoings Pierre Puget peintre de ceste ville de Tollon qui de son gré a confessé avoir reçu du Sr Anthoine Laurens bourgeois de ladite ville en qualité de trésorier de la chapelle Corpus Dominy érigée dans l'esglise cathédrale dudit Tollon prezant stipulant payant en suite du Manda rapporté par ledi Puget de Me Alexandre Gaultier docteur en Medecine l'un desdits recteurs remis....trois cents livre en Louis d'or et d'argent...avoit Puget par l'acte de prix fait d'un custode qu'il c'est obligé faire pour ladite chapelle par acte nousdit notaire le XIII janvier dernier..., L. Lagrange, op. cit., pp. 83-4). The final payment arrived on 14 October 1668, for the sculptures, the gilding and other decorations, amounting to 5095 livres, i.e. nearly three times the budget and nine years late.
The present drawing, lost since it left the Lagoy Collection, was known to Puget's early biographers who all mentioned that it came from the collection of the Marquis de Calvière, which is attested by the inscription on the mount, and that it was subsequently in the collections of Magnan de la Roquette and Lagoy. Calvière's collection, like most of the 18th Century collections in the South of France, was particularly rich in drawings by Puget. Most of these were included in Calvière's posthumous sale in 1779, but the present drawing seems to have been kept by Calvière's son who sold it directly to Magnan de la Roquette. Nicolas-Alphense Dagnan, a collector-dealer from Marseille who also had a great number of Puget's drawings, possibly bought the present modello from Magnan to sell it to Lagoy in circa 1811-2. The drawing is then recorded in Lagoy's collection but disappears thereafter.
We are grateful to Professor Klaus Herding for confirming the attribution of the drawing upon direct examination, and to Madame Béatrice de Moustier for providing information concerning the provenance.
The tabernacle, now destroyed, is known through the contract drawn up between Puget and his patrons Pierre Cauderon and Antoine Burgues, rectors of the chapel, and Antoine Laurens, treasurer of the chapel. The contract, which describes the tabernacle in detail and whose description corresponds exactly to the present drawing reads 'L'an mil six cens cinquante neuf et le quatorziesme jour du mois de janvier après midi, stably devant nous notaire et tesmoings S
The actual work, as well as the wooden modello was executed by Puget's assistant Jean Panon, probably based on the present drawing. The first payment of 600 livres arrived on 4 March 1659, probably when the work began and the second, of 300 livres, on 6 October 1659 (see 'Quittance pour la chapelle Corpus Dominy contre Pierre Puget: L'an mil six cens cinquante neuf le sixieme jour du moi d'octobre avant midy, stably pardevant nous notaire et tesmoings Pierre Puget peintre de ceste ville de Tollon qui de son gré a confessé avoir reçu du S
The present drawing, lost since it left the Lagoy Collection, was known to Puget's early biographers who all mentioned that it came from the collection of the Marquis de Calvière, which is attested by the inscription on the mount, and that it was subsequently in the collections of Magnan de la Roquette and Lagoy. Calvière's collection, like most of the 18th Century collections in the South of France, was particularly rich in drawings by Puget. Most of these were included in Calvière's posthumous sale in 1779, but the present drawing seems to have been kept by Calvière's son who sold it directly to Magnan de la Roquette. Nicolas-Alphense Dagnan, a collector-dealer from Marseille who also had a great number of Puget's drawings, possibly bought the present modello from Magnan to sell it to Lagoy in circa 1811-2. The drawing is then recorded in Lagoy's collection but disappears thereafter.
We are grateful to Professor Klaus Herding for confirming the attribution of the drawing upon direct examination, and to Madame Béatrice de Moustier for providing information concerning the provenance.