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Lot Essay
Lefranois (op. cit., p. 218, under no. P.83), considers this picture, which is signed and dated 1728, to be a possible modello for a much larger canvas (144 x 208 cm.), now in a private collection, London. Although the latter is only first recorded in a sale in 1865, the history of the present picture can be traced almost to its date of execution (see provenance). It was this picture that must have served as a model for Lpici's engraving of circa 1730-1731, which, with other engravings, allowed the engraver to be accepted into the Acadmie Royale de peinture et de sculpture in 1734. The engraving states that the picture was in the 'cabinet de Monsieur Fagon Conseiller d'Etat ordinaire, et au Conseil Royal'. The latter was also Intendant des Finances and Prsident du Bureau du commerce, and a notable collector of Charles Coypel's work.
According to Lefranois, this picture enjoyed an immediate and continued success. Chardin reproduced in 1751 a detail from Lpici's engraving in the background of his various versions of La Serinette. As pointed out by Ingersoll-Smouse (op. cit., p. 153) the picture offers a gently satirical critique on the modes of the era and feminine vanity - a subject already treated by the artist in his La Veuve coquette and La Folie pare la Dcrptitude des ornements de la Jeunesse (Lefranois, op. cit., nos. P.113 and P.223). Lefranois concludes that the picture is 'une de ses crations les plus heureuses dans le genre moralisant dont il donna surtout des exemples dans sa production d'auteur dramatique, et l'on ne saurait nier que ses petites filles se comportent comme de vritables actrices'.
According to Lefranois, this picture enjoyed an immediate and continued success. Chardin reproduced in 1751 a detail from Lpici's engraving in the background of his various versions of La Serinette. As pointed out by Ingersoll-Smouse (op. cit., p. 153) the picture offers a gently satirical critique on the modes of the era and feminine vanity - a subject already treated by the artist in his La Veuve coquette and La Folie pare la Dcrptitude des ornements de la Jeunesse (Lefranois, op. cit., nos. P.113 and P.223). Lefranois concludes that the picture is 'une de ses crations les plus heureuses dans le genre moralisant dont il donna surtout des exemples dans sa production d'auteur dramatique, et l'on ne saurait nier que ses petites filles se comportent comme de vritables actrices'.