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L'Arrivée de la reine à l'Hôtel de Ville ; et Le Feu d'artifice
Details
JEAN-MICHEL MOREAU DIT LE JEUNE (PARIS 1741-1814)
L'Arrivée de la reine à l'Hôtel de Ville ; et Le Feu d'artifice
le premier signé et daté 'J.M. Moreau le Jeune 1783' (en bas, vers la droite)
le deuxième signé et daté 'J.M. Moreau le Jeune 1783' (en bas, vers la gauche)
plume et encre noire, lavis gris (le second réhaussé de blanc)
45,6 x 72,9 cm (18 x 28 ¾ in.), une paire
L'Arrivée de la reine à l'Hôtel de Ville ; et Le Feu d'artifice
le premier signé et daté 'J.M. Moreau le Jeune 1783' (en bas, vers la droite)
le deuxième signé et daté 'J.M. Moreau le Jeune 1783' (en bas, vers la gauche)
plume et encre noire, lavis gris (le second réhaussé de blanc)
45,6 x 72,9 cm (18 x 28 ¾ in.), une paire
Provenance
Fonds d'atelier de l’artiste ;
Puis par descendance à sa fille, épouse de Carle Vernet (1758-1836) (selon G. Bapst, 1889, voir infra) ;
Puis par descendance à son fils, Horace Vernet (1789-1863) ;
Puis par descendance à sa fille, Louise Vernet-Delaroche (-1845) ;
Puis par descendance à Philippe Delaroche-Vernet (1878-1935) (selon le catalogue d'exposition de 1894, voir infra).
Marque du monteur Adolphe Stoll (XXe siècle), Paris (L. 2786c).
Arthur Georges Veil-Picard (1854-1944), Paris ;
Confisqués auprès de celui-ci à la Banque de France (coffre 63) par le Devisenschutzkommando suite à l'occupation allemande de la France (ERR inv. WP 37 et 38), Paris, le 29 octobre 1940 ;
Transférés au Jeu de Paume, Paris ;
Transférés au musée du Louvre, Paris ;
Transférés aux mines de sel d’Altaussee, Autriche ;
Transférés au château de Neuschwanstein, Bavière ;
Retournés en France, le 17 octobre 1945 ;
Restitués aux ayants droit d'Arthur Georges Veil-Picard, le 16 avril 1946 ;
Puis par descendance dans la famille.
Puis par descendance à sa fille, épouse de Carle Vernet (1758-1836) (selon G. Bapst, 1889, voir infra) ;
Puis par descendance à son fils, Horace Vernet (1789-1863) ;
Puis par descendance à sa fille, Louise Vernet-Delaroche (-1845) ;
Puis par descendance à Philippe Delaroche-Vernet (1878-1935) (selon le catalogue d'exposition de 1894, voir infra).
Marque du monteur Adolphe Stoll (XXe siècle), Paris (L. 2786c).
Arthur Georges Veil-Picard (1854-1944), Paris ;
Confisqués auprès de celui-ci à la Banque de France (coffre 63) par le Devisenschutzkommando suite à l'occupation allemande de la France (ERR inv. WP 37 et 38), Paris, le 29 octobre 1940 ;
Transférés au Jeu de Paume, Paris ;
Transférés au musée du Louvre, Paris ;
Transférés aux mines de sel d’Altaussee, Autriche ;
Transférés au château de Neuschwanstein, Bavière ;
Retournés en France, le 17 octobre 1945 ;
Restitués aux ayants droit d'Arthur Georges Veil-Picard, le 16 avril 1946 ;
Puis par descendance dans la famille.
Literature
G. Bapst, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1889, I, pp. 131-136.
A. C. Gruber, 'Les réjouissances pour la naissance du Dauphin fils de Louis XVI et de Marie-Antoinette les 21 et 23 janvier 1782', Sauvegarde et mise en valeur du Paris historique, bulletin d'information, juin 1972, pp. 47-57.
A. C. Gruber, 'Les réjouissances pour la naissance du Dauphin fils de Louis XVI et de Marie-Antoinette les 21 et 23 janvier 1782', Sauvegarde et mise en valeur du Paris historique, bulletin d'information, juin 1972, pp. 47-57.
Exhibited
Paris, Salon, 1783, partie du n°306 (Collection des livrets des anciennes expositions depuis 1673 jusqu'en 1800, XXXII, exposition de 1783).
Paris, Exposition des Alsaciens-Lorrains, 1874.
Paris, galerie Sedelmeyer, Marie-Antoinette et son temps, 1894, n°152 et 153.
Versailles, château de Versailles, Marie-Antoinette. Archiduchesse, Dauphine et Reine, 16 mai-2 novembre 1955, n°412a et 412c.
Paris, Exposition des Alsaciens-Lorrains, 1874.
Paris, galerie Sedelmeyer, Marie-Antoinette et son temps, 1894, n°152 et 153.
Versailles, château de Versailles, Marie-Antoinette. Archiduchesse, Dauphine et Reine, 16 mai-2 novembre 1955, n°412a et 412c.
Engraved
au burin et à l'eau-forte par l'artiste (E. Bocher, Les gravures françaises du XVIIIe siècle. Sixième fascicule, Paris, 1875, n°202 et 203).
Further Details
JEAN-MICHEL MOREAU CALLED MOREAU THE YOUNGER, THE ARRIVAL OF THE QUEEN AT THE CITY PALACE AND THE FIREWORKS, PEN AND BLACK INK, GREY WASH, HEIGHTENED WITH WHITE, SIGNED AND DATED
Jean-Michel Moreau the Younger and the Menus-Plaisirs: a Prestigious Print Commission in the Age of Enlightenment
Under the reign of Louis XV (1710-1774), the administration of the Menus-Plaisirs was responsible for organizing court festivities, theatrical performances, and ceremonial events in order to promote royal grandeur. To disseminate images of these highly festive occasions, engravings, 'which rank among the finest prints of the Age of Enlightenment', were produced, initially after designs by Charles-Nicolas Cochin (1715-1790) and, from the 1780s onward, by Jean-Michel Moreau the Younger. Both artists were successively appointed dessinateur des Menus-Plaisirs (C. Le Bitouzé, 'Les estampes des Menus-Plaisirs', in Graver pour le Roi. Collections historiques de la chalcographie du Louvre, exh. cat., Paris, Musée du Louvre, 2019, p. 97).
Elected to the Royal Academy of Painting, Moreau exhibited at the 1781 Salon a drawing of The Oath at the Coronation of Louis XVI at Reims, which was later engraved and regarded as one of the most impressive plates produced for the Menus-Plaisirs. Building on this success, the city of Paris naturally turned to him to immortalize the festivities it organized in 1782 in honor of the birth of the Dauphin Louis-Joseph (1781-1789), son of Louis XVI (1754-1793) and Marie-Antoinette (1755-1793).
The four drawings presented here as pairs (lots 22 and 23) are preparatory studies for the corresponding prints, engraved in burin and etching by Moreau himself (figs. 1-4), and mark the conclusion of the great Menus-Plaisirs enterprise, the prints having been commissioned by the City of Paris.
The Festivities in Honor of the Birth of the Dauphin: an Ambitious Program
Following the birth of the Dauphin on 21 October 1781, the King ordered the City of Paris to organize celebrations on January 21 and 22, 1782: a banquet and fireworks on the first evening, followed the next day by a formal ball. The events were organized by the architect Louis-Pierre Moreau-Desproux, then Maître général des Bâtiments de la Ville de Paris from 1763 to 1787. Archival records mention a payment of 45,000 livres to Moreau the Younger for the creation of the four engravings—two large and two small—which were not delivered until March 1789 (J.-G. Castex, op. cit., exh. cat., Paris, Musée du Louvre, 2019, p. 128).
Lot 22 depicts The Arrival of Marie-Antoinette at the Paris Town Hall and The Fireworks Display. The Queen’s carriage is followed by an immense procession, and the Place de Grève is crowded with spectators. With a touch of humor, Moreau the Younger portrayed himself seated at the foot of one of the two columns on the left side of the composition, sketching the scene.
In the fireworks scene, the setting, neo-Palladian in inspiration, is described by the architect Moreau-Desproux in a document preserved in the French National Archives. A watercolor drawing showing the ephemeral architecture placed to the right of the composition in the present drawing is preserved in the Musée Carnavalet in Paris (fig. 5; inv. IED 6155; X. Salmon, Marie-Antoinette, exh. cat., Paris, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, 2008, no. 86). 'A Temple of Hymen housed an altar on which the offerings of all French citizens burned with the brightest flame for the prosperity of the royal family and that of the Dauphin. Two colossal Doric columns were surmounted by a group of dolphins bearing a globe with the arms of France topped by a crown' (X. Salmon, 2008, ibid.). The façade of the Town Hall was adorned with thousands of lights, while fireworks illuminated the sparkling sky before an admiring crowd.
Lot 23 shows the Royal Banquet of January 21, 1782, followed two days later, on January 23, by the Masked Ball. A vast temporary hall had been erected perpendicular to the Town Hall on the Place de Grève by the architect Moreau-Desproux and is described in the archives as follows: 'It is decorated with thirty columns painted to resemble Sicilian marble […]; a gallery in the form of a tribune provides boxes all around the perimeter. At both ends, musicians will be placed who, during the dinner, will perform symphonies and selected and pleasing pieces. […] The table of Their Majesties […] will seat seventy-eight guests and be laden with a centerpiece of great magnificence.' The hall was then cleared and rearranged for the ball, as were all the rooms of the City Hall, 'decorated, illuminated, […] where abundantly supplied buffets and refreshments would be found' (X. Salmon, 2008, op. cit., p. 131).
Two smaller sketches by Moreau the Younger, in pen and black ink (28 × 43 cm), signed and dated 1782 and far less detailed, are known and likely precede the present compositions of The Arrival of the Queen and The Fireworks. Formerly in the Penard y Fernandez collection, they were sold at the Palais Galliera on Wednesday, December 7, 1960, lots 12 and 13.
From the Artist’s Studio
The four drawings remained in the artist’s studio. Inherited by his daughter, who married Carle Vernet (1758-1836), they subsequently passed by descent to Horace Vernet (1789-1863) and then to his daughter Louise Vernet-Delaroche (1814-1845), remaining in the Vernet-Delaroche family until they were likely acquired by Arthur Veil-Picard.
An exact reflection of the architect’s descriptions of these sumptuous festivities, this rare ensemble of four large-scale drawings by Moreau the Younger is teeming with detail and bears witness to the importance of these public celebrations, which helped to forge bonds between the King and his people throughout the eighteenth century.
Jean-Michel Moreau the Younger and the Menus-Plaisirs: a Prestigious Print Commission in the Age of Enlightenment
Under the reign of Louis XV (1710-1774), the administration of the Menus-Plaisirs was responsible for organizing court festivities, theatrical performances, and ceremonial events in order to promote royal grandeur. To disseminate images of these highly festive occasions, engravings, 'which rank among the finest prints of the Age of Enlightenment', were produced, initially after designs by Charles-Nicolas Cochin (1715-1790) and, from the 1780s onward, by Jean-Michel Moreau the Younger. Both artists were successively appointed dessinateur des Menus-Plaisirs (C. Le Bitouzé, 'Les estampes des Menus-Plaisirs', in Graver pour le Roi. Collections historiques de la chalcographie du Louvre, exh. cat., Paris, Musée du Louvre, 2019, p. 97).
Elected to the Royal Academy of Painting, Moreau exhibited at the 1781 Salon a drawing of The Oath at the Coronation of Louis XVI at Reims, which was later engraved and regarded as one of the most impressive plates produced for the Menus-Plaisirs. Building on this success, the city of Paris naturally turned to him to immortalize the festivities it organized in 1782 in honor of the birth of the Dauphin Louis-Joseph (1781-1789), son of Louis XVI (1754-1793) and Marie-Antoinette (1755-1793).
The four drawings presented here as pairs (lots 22 and 23) are preparatory studies for the corresponding prints, engraved in burin and etching by Moreau himself (figs. 1-4), and mark the conclusion of the great Menus-Plaisirs enterprise, the prints having been commissioned by the City of Paris.
The Festivities in Honor of the Birth of the Dauphin: an Ambitious Program
Following the birth of the Dauphin on 21 October 1781, the King ordered the City of Paris to organize celebrations on January 21 and 22, 1782: a banquet and fireworks on the first evening, followed the next day by a formal ball. The events were organized by the architect Louis-Pierre Moreau-Desproux, then Maître général des Bâtiments de la Ville de Paris from 1763 to 1787. Archival records mention a payment of 45,000 livres to Moreau the Younger for the creation of the four engravings—two large and two small—which were not delivered until March 1789 (J.-G. Castex, op. cit., exh. cat., Paris, Musée du Louvre, 2019, p. 128).
Lot 22 depicts The Arrival of Marie-Antoinette at the Paris Town Hall and The Fireworks Display. The Queen’s carriage is followed by an immense procession, and the Place de Grève is crowded with spectators. With a touch of humor, Moreau the Younger portrayed himself seated at the foot of one of the two columns on the left side of the composition, sketching the scene.
In the fireworks scene, the setting, neo-Palladian in inspiration, is described by the architect Moreau-Desproux in a document preserved in the French National Archives. A watercolor drawing showing the ephemeral architecture placed to the right of the composition in the present drawing is preserved in the Musée Carnavalet in Paris (fig. 5; inv. IED 6155; X. Salmon, Marie-Antoinette, exh. cat., Paris, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, 2008, no. 86). 'A Temple of Hymen housed an altar on which the offerings of all French citizens burned with the brightest flame for the prosperity of the royal family and that of the Dauphin. Two colossal Doric columns were surmounted by a group of dolphins bearing a globe with the arms of France topped by a crown' (X. Salmon, 2008, ibid.). The façade of the Town Hall was adorned with thousands of lights, while fireworks illuminated the sparkling sky before an admiring crowd.
Lot 23 shows the Royal Banquet of January 21, 1782, followed two days later, on January 23, by the Masked Ball. A vast temporary hall had been erected perpendicular to the Town Hall on the Place de Grève by the architect Moreau-Desproux and is described in the archives as follows: 'It is decorated with thirty columns painted to resemble Sicilian marble […]; a gallery in the form of a tribune provides boxes all around the perimeter. At both ends, musicians will be placed who, during the dinner, will perform symphonies and selected and pleasing pieces. […] The table of Their Majesties […] will seat seventy-eight guests and be laden with a centerpiece of great magnificence.' The hall was then cleared and rearranged for the ball, as were all the rooms of the City Hall, 'decorated, illuminated, […] where abundantly supplied buffets and refreshments would be found' (X. Salmon, 2008, op. cit., p. 131).
Two smaller sketches by Moreau the Younger, in pen and black ink (28 × 43 cm), signed and dated 1782 and far less detailed, are known and likely precede the present compositions of The Arrival of the Queen and The Fireworks. Formerly in the Penard y Fernandez collection, they were sold at the Palais Galliera on Wednesday, December 7, 1960, lots 12 and 13.
From the Artist’s Studio
The four drawings remained in the artist’s studio. Inherited by his daughter, who married Carle Vernet (1758-1836), they subsequently passed by descent to Horace Vernet (1789-1863) and then to his daughter Louise Vernet-Delaroche (1814-1845), remaining in the Vernet-Delaroche family until they were likely acquired by Arthur Veil-Picard.
An exact reflection of the architect’s descriptions of these sumptuous festivities, this rare ensemble of four large-scale drawings by Moreau the Younger is teeming with detail and bears witness to the importance of these public celebrations, which helped to forge bonds between the King and his people throughout the eighteenth century.
Brought to you by
Pierre Etienne
International Director, Deputy Chairman of Christie's France, Old Master Paintings