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拍品專文
DESPITE HIS REMARKABLE VERSATILITY, HUBERT ROBERT RARELY PAINTED TRUE STILL LIFES, SUCH AS THE LOST PICTURE OF FLOWERS, BOOKS AND ROLLED UP DRAWINGS ON A TABLE THAT WAS AUCTIONED IN NATOIRE'S ESTATE SALE IN 1778, OR THE KITCHEN STILL LIFE IN THE SCHMIDT COLLECTION THAT WAS EXHIBITED AT THE ORANGERIE IN 1933. THE PRESENT PAINTINGS, AND THE FOLLOWING LOT, CERTAINLY FIGURE AMONG THIS SMALL GROUP, AND ARE EXCEPTIONALLY LIVELY AND CHARMING EXAMPLES OF ROBERT'S CONSIDERABLE - IF INFREQUENTLY EMPLOYED - TALENT FOR THE GENRE. HOWEVER, THEY MIGHT MORE PROFITABLY BE CONSIDERED AMONG THE NUMEROUS LARGE-SCALE DECORATIONS THAT ROBERT PAINTED OF LUSH ITALIANATE LANDSCAPES AND GRAND ARCHITECTURAL SETTINGS. THE CAILLEUX VASES WERE CLEARLY MADE AS OVERDOOR DECORATIONS, AND IT IS EASY TO IMAGINE THEM INSTALLED ABOVE
THE ENTRANCES OF A GRAND SALON, EN SUITE WITH ONE OF THE MANY SETS OF VAST ARCHITECTURAL CAPRICCIOS PAINTED BY ROBERT FOR RICH COLLECTORS LIKE BERGERET DE FROUVILLE, LABORDE DE MRVILLE, OR THE COMTE D'ARTOIS.
NOTHING IS KNOWN OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF THESE PICTURES, BUT THEY ARE IDENTICAL IN STYLE AND HANDLING TO TWO OTHER, SLIGHTLY SMALLER (61 X 151CM.) OVERDOORS THAT WERE WITH GALERIE CAILLEUX IN THE 1960S (SEE FAR, OP. CIT., P. 275, FIGS. 438-9). DEPICTING STONE NICHES CONTAINING CARVED OVAL BAS-RELIEFS AND POTS OF FLOWERS (FIG. 1), THEY ARE SO SIMILAR IN EXECUTION TO THE PRESENT PAINTINGS AS TO SUGGEST THAT THEY MIGHT HAVE ORIGINALLY BEEN PART OF ONE DECORATIVE SERIES; JEAN CAILLEUX SEEMS CORRECT IN SUGGESTING THAT THEY DATE FROM THE EARLY 1770S, THE PROBABLE DATING OF THIS AND THE FOLLOWING LOT.
EVEN IF THEY WERE MADE ALMOST A DECADE AFTER HIS RETURN FROM ROME, THESE PANELS - LIKE SO MANY OF ROBERT'S WORKS - ARE REDOLENT WITH MEMORIES OF HIS ELEVEN YEARS IN ITALY. HE WOULD HAVE ENCOUNTERED MANY SUCH GARDEN DECORATIONS IN THE COUNTRY VILLAS THAT HE VISITED OUTSIDE ROME, AND HE RECREATED THEM HERE WITH UNUSUAL ACCURACY. ALTHOUGH NO DRAWINGS FOR THE PAINTINGS HAVE BEEN FOUND, THE STONE URNS CARVED WITH GROTESQUE MASKS ARE LIKE MANY ANTIQUE POTS AND VASES THAT THE STUDENT COPIED IN HIS SKETCHBOOKS (FIG. 2). ABOVE ALL, THE ARTIST MEMORABLY TRANSLATED INTO PAINT THE BRILLIANT LIGHT OF A MEDITERRANEAN AFTERNOON, SHIMMERING ON THE PORPHYRY AND REFLECTING OFF THE SINUOUS GARLANDS OF LEAVES AND PETALS.
THE 19TH-CENTURY PROVENANCE OF THE PAINTINGS IS NOTEWORTHY: BEFORE BEING PURCHASED BY THE PROMINENT COLLECTOR CAMILLE GROULT, THEY BELONGED TO M. MALVILAN, A DESCENDANT OF FRAGONARD'S COUSIN ALEXANDRE MAUBERT, AND WERE INSTALLED IN THE FAMILY VILLA IN GRASSE THAT HOUSED FRAGONARD'S MASTERPIECE, THE PROGRESS OF LOVE SERIES, NOW IN THE FRICK COLLECTION, NEW YORK. MALVILAN, QUITE NATURALLY, BELIEVED THEM TO BE BY HIS ILLUSTRIOUS ANCESTOR, AND THEY WERE PUBLISHED AS SUCH UNTIL THE 1960S WHEN JEAN CAILLEUX RETURNED THEM TO THEIR TRUE AUTHOR. PORTALIS, WHO FIRST PUBLISHED THEM IN 1889, ALERTS US TO THE FACT THAT THERE WAS AT THAT TIME A FOURTH OVERDOOR, SINCE LOST, WHICH, PRESUMABLY PAIRED WITH THE FOLLOWING LOT - AND SHOWED A VASE OF FLOWERS AGAINST A BLUE SKY.
THE ENTRANCES OF A GRAND SALON, EN SUITE WITH ONE OF THE MANY SETS OF VAST ARCHITECTURAL CAPRICCIOS PAINTED BY ROBERT FOR RICH COLLECTORS LIKE BERGERET DE FROUVILLE, LABORDE DE MRVILLE, OR THE COMTE D'ARTOIS.
NOTHING IS KNOWN OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF THESE PICTURES, BUT THEY ARE IDENTICAL IN STYLE AND HANDLING TO TWO OTHER, SLIGHTLY SMALLER (61 X 151CM.) OVERDOORS THAT WERE WITH GALERIE CAILLEUX IN THE 1960S (SEE FAR, OP. CIT., P. 275, FIGS. 438-9). DEPICTING STONE NICHES CONTAINING CARVED OVAL BAS-RELIEFS AND POTS OF FLOWERS (FIG. 1), THEY ARE SO SIMILAR IN EXECUTION TO THE PRESENT PAINTINGS AS TO SUGGEST THAT THEY MIGHT HAVE ORIGINALLY BEEN PART OF ONE DECORATIVE SERIES; JEAN CAILLEUX SEEMS CORRECT IN SUGGESTING THAT THEY DATE FROM THE EARLY 1770S, THE PROBABLE DATING OF THIS AND THE FOLLOWING LOT.
EVEN IF THEY WERE MADE ALMOST A DECADE AFTER HIS RETURN FROM ROME, THESE PANELS - LIKE SO MANY OF ROBERT'S WORKS - ARE REDOLENT WITH MEMORIES OF HIS ELEVEN YEARS IN ITALY. HE WOULD HAVE ENCOUNTERED MANY SUCH GARDEN DECORATIONS IN THE COUNTRY VILLAS THAT HE VISITED OUTSIDE ROME, AND HE RECREATED THEM HERE WITH UNUSUAL ACCURACY. ALTHOUGH NO DRAWINGS FOR THE PAINTINGS HAVE BEEN FOUND, THE STONE URNS CARVED WITH GROTESQUE MASKS ARE LIKE MANY ANTIQUE POTS AND VASES THAT THE STUDENT COPIED IN HIS SKETCHBOOKS (FIG. 2). ABOVE ALL, THE ARTIST MEMORABLY TRANSLATED INTO PAINT THE BRILLIANT LIGHT OF A MEDITERRANEAN AFTERNOON, SHIMMERING ON THE PORPHYRY AND REFLECTING OFF THE SINUOUS GARLANDS OF LEAVES AND PETALS.
THE 19TH-CENTURY PROVENANCE OF THE PAINTINGS IS NOTEWORTHY: BEFORE BEING PURCHASED BY THE PROMINENT COLLECTOR CAMILLE GROULT, THEY BELONGED TO M. MALVILAN, A DESCENDANT OF FRAGONARD'S COUSIN ALEXANDRE MAUBERT, AND WERE INSTALLED IN THE FAMILY VILLA IN GRASSE THAT HOUSED FRAGONARD'S MASTERPIECE, THE PROGRESS OF LOVE SERIES, NOW IN THE FRICK COLLECTION, NEW YORK. MALVILAN, QUITE NATURALLY, BELIEVED THEM TO BE BY HIS ILLUSTRIOUS ANCESTOR, AND THEY WERE PUBLISHED AS SUCH UNTIL THE 1960S WHEN JEAN CAILLEUX RETURNED THEM TO THEIR TRUE AUTHOR. PORTALIS, WHO FIRST PUBLISHED THEM IN 1889, ALERTS US TO THE FACT THAT THERE WAS AT THAT TIME A FOURTH OVERDOOR, SINCE LOST, WHICH, PRESUMABLY PAIRED WITH THE FOLLOWING LOT - AND SHOWED A VASE OF FLOWERS AGAINST A BLUE SKY.