PIERRE-LOUIS BOUVIER (SWISS, 1765-1836)
Prospective purchasers are advised that several co… Read more
PIERRE-LOUIS BOUVIER (SWISS, 1765-1836)

Details
PIERRE-LOUIS BOUVIER (SWISS, 1765-1836)
Madelaine Bouvier née Le Double (1731-1810), the artist's mother, seated on a green upholstered chair, in grey dress, white fichu, lilac shawl with red, blue and yellow stripes over her shoulder, tan leather glove, mob-cap tied with orange ribbon
signed 'Bouvier pt' (lower right)
on ivory
oval, 3¼ in. (82 mm.) high, gilt-metal mount
Indistinctly inscribed in pencil and ink on backing card 'Mme Jeane Bouvier / Jeane Madelaine Le Double / [...]'
Provenance
Jeanne-Charlotte Ducloux, née Bouvier (1769-1844), a younger sister of the artist.
Her granddaughter Louise Marie Bourdillon, née Ducloux, married in 1862 to Auguste Bourdillon.
Roger Demierre Collection, Geneva.
Christie's, Geneva, 16 November 1993, lot 91.
Bonhams, London, 21 March 1995, lot 43.
Special notice
Prospective purchasers are advised that several countries prohibit the importation of property containing materials from endangered species, including but not limited to coral, ivory and tortoiseshell. Accordingly, prospective purchasers should familiarize themselves with relevant customs regulations prior to bidding if they intend to import this lot into another country.

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Katharine Cooke
Katharine Cooke

Lot Essay

Jeane-Madelaine Le Double (Paris 1731-1810 Geneva), daughter of Jaques Le Double, engraver to the King of France, and his wife Catherine Fradin, married Jean Bouvier in 1757. The third of their five sons was the future miniaturist Pierre-Louis Bouvier. Élisabeth della Santa (Pierre-Louis Bouvier - Biographie, Geneva, 1978, p. 16) mentions another portrait of the artist's mother, of 1785, in a case inscribed by the artist's hand: 'J'ai fait un plus grand portrait de ma mère en 1800. Ce dernier est parfaitement ressemblant. Il a une main gantée et un schall lie-de-vin, robe grise.' It is tempting to think that Bouvier was referring to the present miniature.

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