拍品專文
Evidently by a member of the Moitte family, the present drawing can be securely attributed to Moitte's wife Anne-Marie Adélaïde Castellas by comparing it to a drawing monogramed 'AM' ('Anne Marie') formerly with the Galerie Bailly in Paris in 1988 mounted on an 18th Century mount stamped by François Renaud. Both drawings share the same handling of the pen with thin tight hatching for the background, a technique paralleled in Moitte's drawings. The Bailly drawing and the drawings in the present album also share a degree of intimacy in the representation of every day life; the Bailly drawing shows the Moitte family assembled around a table surrounding two women reading letters. Another drawing by Madame Moitte was given by the Princesse de Croÿ to the Louvre in 1930 (inv. 14824 RF). A number of sale catalogues around 1800 mention Madame Moitte's drawings such as the Vidal collection, 20 Primaire, An XI, Jean-Guillaume Moitte in 1810 and Bruun-Neegard in 1814. Two drawings similar in composition and handling to the ones in this album are in the Hôpital Général in Montpellier as Pierre-Etienne Moitte (photographs at the Witt Library).
Anne-Marie Adélaïde Castellas was born in Paris in 1747, trained under Jean-Jacques Le Barbier and began a career as a painter, but when she married Jean-Guillaume Moitte in 1781 she abandonned her career as an artist. She died in 1807.
The present drawings were executed around 1797, as is indicated by the inscription in the album. It was indeed around that time that Jean-Guillaume had to travel to Italy for the French government, confirmed by the list of dates in the letters received by the Moitte family. On 13 May 1796, the Directoire Exécutif of the French Republic chose Moitte to collect works of art in Italy. Four days later his name was on the list sent to Bonaparte of Commissaires leaving for Italy. The Armistice of Foligno was signed on 24 June 1796 by the French Republic and the Pope. Article 23 of the Armistice stipulated that one hundred pictures and sculptures and five hundred manuscripts were to be sent to France for the Musée Central des Arts. By 4 July 1796, the Commissaires du Gouvernement à la Recherche des Objects de Sciences et Arts, which included Moitte, Tinet, Berthollet and Berthélemy; the last two mentioned in the list, drafted in the present album, were already in Rome. A preliminary list of the objects was drawn up on the 15 August and sent to the minister Delacroix. In May of the next year, Moitte drafted a condition report on Raphael's Transfiguration, with the intention of transporting it to Paris. Very shortly thereafter, Raphael's painting, eight other pictures and eighteen sculptures were sent to Livorno to be shipped to France. Moitte accompanied the works of art from Rome back to Paris, and in a letter dated 16 June 1797, he described the four shipments that arrived in Marseilles from Livorno. Thereafter, Moitte followed the slow move of the shipment through France and was still in Châlon in May 1798. He must have joined his family by the latter half of 1798.
Anne-Marie Adélaïde Castellas was born in Paris in 1747, trained under Jean-Jacques Le Barbier and began a career as a painter, but when she married Jean-Guillaume Moitte in 1781 she abandonned her career as an artist. She died in 1807.
The present drawings were executed around 1797, as is indicated by the inscription in the album. It was indeed around that time that Jean-Guillaume had to travel to Italy for the French government, confirmed by the list of dates in the letters received by the Moitte family. On 13 May 1796, the Directoire Exécutif of the French Republic chose Moitte to collect works of art in Italy. Four days later his name was on the list sent to Bonaparte of Commissaires leaving for Italy. The Armistice of Foligno was signed on 24 June 1796 by the French Republic and the Pope. Article 23 of the Armistice stipulated that one hundred pictures and sculptures and five hundred manuscripts were to be sent to France for the Musée Central des Arts. By 4 July 1796, the Commissaires du Gouvernement à la Recherche des Objects de Sciences et Arts, which included Moitte, Tinet, Berthollet and Berthélemy; the last two mentioned in the list, drafted in the present album, were already in Rome. A preliminary list of the objects was drawn up on the 15 August and sent to the minister Delacroix. In May of the next year, Moitte drafted a condition report on Raphael's Transfiguration, with the intention of transporting it to Paris. Very shortly thereafter, Raphael's painting, eight other pictures and eighteen sculptures were sent to Livorno to be shipped to France. Moitte accompanied the works of art from Rome back to Paris, and in a letter dated 16 June 1797, he described the four shipments that arrived in Marseilles from Livorno. Thereafter, Moitte followed the slow move of the shipment through France and was still in Châlon in May 1798. He must have joined his family by the latter half of 1798.