JEAN-JACQUES KARPFF, called CASIMIR (1770-1829)

The playwright Collin d'Harleville, facing left seated at a table with an inkwell, quill-sharpenener, two books, one titled 'CICE RO', holding a quill and writing 'Scene V', seated in an interior with curtain, tassel and window showing a rocky lands

Details

JEAN-JACQUES KARPFF, called CASIMIR (1770-1829)
The playwright Collin d'Harleville, facing left seated at a table with an inkwell, quill-sharpenener, two books, one titled 'CICE RO', holding a quill and writing 'Scene V', seated in an interior with curtain, tassel and window showing a rocky landscape with an aqueduct in the background
signed and inscribed 'COLLIN D'HARLEVILLE, AUT: DU VIEUX CELIBAT DÉDIÉ À M.^M^E REISET, NÉE GODEFROY. CASIMIR. F.^T' (lower border)
encre de chine heightened with white bodycolour
rectangular, 3¾ x 2.15/16 in. (96 x 74 mm.), gilt-metal mount on a wooden base

Provenance

Comte de Reiset.

Lot Essay

An old inscription on the reverse reads 'Portrait de Collin d'Harleville ami de ma mère peint par Casimir Karpff de Colmar Turin 1851 Cte de Reiset.
Jean-Franois Collin d'Harleville (1755-1806), abandoned his career as a lawyer to follow his vocation for literature and theatre. From 1781 onward, his highly successful comedies were staged at the Comédie franaise and maintained their popularity until many years after Collins's death. The inscription on present miniature refers to his celebrated Le Vieux Célibataire of 1792.

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