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Lot Essay
Largillierre portrayed himself frequently, in a variety of guises, and in numerous replicas and variations, including as Saint John the Baptist (c.1679, Geneva); in a monumental group portrait with the engraver Gérard Edelinck (c.1688, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk); and in a large self-portrait with his wife and children (c.1704, Kunsthalle, Bremen), among others. The best-known of his self-portraits are three compositions from his mature years, each presenting the artist in his atelier, and all of which exist in several versions, workshop replicas and early copies. The earliest of these, signed and dated 1707 (prime version, National Gallery of Art, Washington), depicts the 51-year-old artist wearing a turban and silk dressing gown, seated in his studio with a portfolio in his lap and sculptures behind him. The second is a half-length of 1711 (prime version, Versailles; replicas in the museums of New Orleans and Lausanne), in which he holds a porte-crayon in one hand and gestures to a canvas on which he has begun sketching the Annunciation with the other. The third composition, dating to c. 1725, of which the present painting is an example, shows the artist around the age of 70, again holding a porte-crayon and standing before a blank canvas. Dressed in a blue velvet coat over a white linen shirt that is open at the neck, his ample powdered wig tied back with a black bow, the elderly master presents himself with a well-deserved self-confidence and bravura.
The status of the Desmarais painting has been much disputed. It was exhibited as autograph in the landmark monographic exhibition of Largillierre’s works in the Montreal Museum of Art in 1981, and its attribution vigorously defended in the accompanying catalogue by Myra Nan Rosenfeld. However, both Pierre Rosenberg and Georges de Lastic considered it a production of the artist’s workshop. Other authors, including Olivier Zeder and Susan Wise, have noted the conflicting opinions of Rosenfeld, Lastic and Rosenberg in their recent publications, but maintained a cautious neutrality in neither accepting nor firmly rejecting an attribution to the artist. The degree of Largillierre’s personal participation in the creation of the present painting remains difficult to assess with confidence, but it stands as a captivating image of considerable quality.
The finest version of the composition, and certainly Largillierre’s prime original, was acquired in 1987 by the Art Institute of Chicago (fig. 1). Its refined and masterly handling of paint and radiant lighting effects, the subtle modeling of flesh, delicate rendering of hair and vivid and lifelike capturing of expression represent Largillierre at the peak of his powers and surpass the more pedestrian handling of the Desmarais version. However, it should be noted that three other versions of the composition which can convincingly lay claim to being autograph, and are generally accepted as such – one, formerly in the collection of Georges de Lastic and signed and dated ‘1726’ on the reverse of the original canvas; another acquired by the painter François-Xavier Fabre for his museum in Montpellier in 1830; and a third, painted for the Grand Duke of Tuscany, which is inscribed and dated ‘1729’ on the canvas reverse and hangs today in the Vasari Corridor at the Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence – seem in no significant measure superior in execution to the present painting.
The status of the Desmarais painting has been much disputed. It was exhibited as autograph in the landmark monographic exhibition of Largillierre’s works in the Montreal Museum of Art in 1981, and its attribution vigorously defended in the accompanying catalogue by Myra Nan Rosenfeld. However, both Pierre Rosenberg and Georges de Lastic considered it a production of the artist’s workshop. Other authors, including Olivier Zeder and Susan Wise, have noted the conflicting opinions of Rosenfeld, Lastic and Rosenberg in their recent publications, but maintained a cautious neutrality in neither accepting nor firmly rejecting an attribution to the artist. The degree of Largillierre’s personal participation in the creation of the present painting remains difficult to assess with confidence, but it stands as a captivating image of considerable quality.
The finest version of the composition, and certainly Largillierre’s prime original, was acquired in 1987 by the Art Institute of Chicago (fig. 1). Its refined and masterly handling of paint and radiant lighting effects, the subtle modeling of flesh, delicate rendering of hair and vivid and lifelike capturing of expression represent Largillierre at the peak of his powers and surpass the more pedestrian handling of the Desmarais version. However, it should be noted that three other versions of the composition which can convincingly lay claim to being autograph, and are generally accepted as such – one, formerly in the collection of Georges de Lastic and signed and dated ‘1726’ on the reverse of the original canvas; another acquired by the painter François-Xavier Fabre for his museum in Montpellier in 1830; and a third, painted for the Grand Duke of Tuscany, which is inscribed and dated ‘1729’ on the canvas reverse and hangs today in the Vasari Corridor at the Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence – seem in no significant measure superior in execution to the present painting.