Portrait of François-Augustin de Paradis de Moncrif

Details

Attributed to Maurice-Quentin de La Tour (Saint Quentin 1704-1788)
Portrait of François-Augustin de Paradis de Moncrif
pastel on paper, laid down on canvas
17½ x 13¾ in. (44.5 x 35 cm.)

Literature

Possibly E. Dréolle de Nodon, Eloge biographique de Maurice-Quentin de La Tour... suivi de notes et documents historiques, Paris, 1856, p. 140.
Possibly E. Fleury and G. Brière, Catalogue des pastels de M.-Q. de La Tour: Collection de Saint-Quentin et Musée du Louvre, Paris, 1920, no. 83, as 'sitter unknown'.
N. Jeffares, Dictionary of Pastellists before 1800, London, 2006, p. 298, illustrated.

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Lot Essay

François-Augustin de Paradis de Moncrif (1687-1770) was a writer, poet and man of fashion, who served as royal historiographer to King Louis XV of France. The present pastel is a version of La Tour's portrait of the sitter which was exhibited at the Salon of 1748, which is also recorded in an oil replica at Versailles, bearing the date 1733 (C. Constans, Musée national du Château du Versailles: Les Peintures, Paris, 1995, I, no. 3047). As Moncrif was a personal friend of the artist's, he may well have come back to La Tour to request replicas of the portrait to present to other friends and associates.

We are grateful for Neil Jeffares for his assistance in preparing this catalogue note.

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