Lot Essay
A preparatory study for the head of King Louis XV in the oval allegorical full-length portrait of Louis XV donnant la Paix à l'Europe (fig. 1), commissioned in 1729 by the duc d'Antin, Directeur général des Bâtiments du Roi, to be hung at the entrance of the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, in the Salon de la Paix, J.-L. Bordeaux, op. cit., no..P76, fig. 79.
This important commission proved to be one of the most significant events in the artist's career: it marked the moment when it became clear that Le Moyne was chosen through royal patronage to become the official painter of the new Reign. Since the early 1720s Le Moyne's reputation had grown steadily, checked only by the popularity of his rival Jean-François de Troy whose brilliant connections and virtuosity threatened his own success. Since the death of Antoine Coypel in 1722, the position of Premier Peintre du Roi had been left vacant. In 1725, the duc d'Antin had appointed to this post the celebrated, but semi-retired, Louis de Boullogne, thus deferring by a few years the difficult choice between the two rivals. When the need to choose an artist to paint the largest ceiling at Versailles in the Salon d'Hercule had become one of the most debated issues among academicians, the duc d'Antin had wanted to appoint Le Moyne. Yet in order to make his decision with an appearance of impartiality, d'Antin had devised the idea of a contest beween twelve of the most renowned painters of his time. The project back-fired: the public did not favor Le Moyne but Noël-Nicolas Coypel, and intense political pressure from the supporters of De Troy obliged the duc d'Antin to give a joint first prize to Le Moyne and De Troy. Nonetheless, Le Moyne unofficially received the commission of the Salon d'Hercule ceiling and it was only two years later that d'Antin confirmed this decision with the commission of the allegorical portrait, for which this drawing is a study, placed in the last salon of the King's state appartments at Versailles above the chimney, beside the doorway leading to the Hall of Mirrors. Thus, Le Moyne was made the heir apparent to the coveted title of Premier Peintre du Roi, which the King, however, was in no position to bestow on him before the ceiling in the Salon d'Hercule was completed in 1733.
The large oval picture was intended both as a portrait of the King and as an allegory showing France as the dispenser of Peace in Europe. Le Moyne asked ten thousand livres for his picture but only received seven on 10 March 1733. Faithful to the academic method, Le Moyne drew several compositional drawings, one recently acquired by the Château de Versailles and another two described in the Abbé Le Prince sale 22 February 1759, lot 16. Another, less securely attributed to the artist, is at Versailles, J. Guiffrey and P. Marcel, Inventaire général des dessins du Musée du Louvre et du Musée de Versailles, Paris, 1933, IX-X, no. 8678, illustrated. Nude studies for various figures are in the Louvre, J. Guiffrey and P. Marcel, op. cit., nos. 8691, 8696; and another one for the King is at Stockholm, P. Bjurström, French Drawings, Eighteenth Century, Stockholm, 1982, no. 1056, illustrated. Three other related studies of hands, legs and a baby's head are also in the Louvre, J. Guiffrey and P. Marcel, op. cit., nos. 8741, 8744, 8742.
Le Moyne rarely used pastel, A.J. Dézallier d'Argenville described his use of the technique in the Abrégé de la vie des plus fameux peintres, Paris, 1782, p. 427: 'Les dessins de Le Moine sont sur le papier gris à la pierre noire ou à la sanguine, relevé de blanc de craie, souvent il employait les trois crayons et quelque fois le pastel pour les têtes qu'il voulait étudier séparément, [Le Moyne's drawings are on grey paper drawn with black or red chalk, heightened with white chalk, he often used the three chalks and sometimes pastel for heads he wanted to study separately]. Only five sheets in this medium are known, although a lost pastel head is recorded in the Mariette sale, Paris, 15 November 1775, lot 1293, later in the Prince de Conti sale, 8 April 1777, lot 1079, where it was sketched by Gabriel de Saint-Aubin, E. Dacier, Catalogue de vente et Livrets de Salons illustrés par Gabriel de Saint-Aubin, Paris, 1919, X, p. 68, no. 219. This would appear to have been a study in pastel for the Head of Hymen in Louis XV donnant la paix à l'Europe.
All of the known pastels are working drawings which were not designed to be presentation pieces, with the possible exception of the more finished pastel head of King Louis XV recorded in the La Live de Jully sale, 5 March 1770. The most famous of Le Moyne's pastel heads is, however, the Head of Hebe, preparatory for one of the figures in the ceiling of the Apotheosis of Hercules, from the Lempereur sale now in the British Museum.
Two other pastels were only recently attributed to the artist by Henri Baderou. Both are studies of heads of bearded men in a very similar technique, one in the Musée des Beaux-Arts at Rouen and the other in the Metropolitan Museum, J.-L. Bordeaux, op. cit., Paris, 1984, respectively figs. 146 and 148.
The present pastel shows the King at the age of nineteen. At the death of his great-grandfather, King Louis XIV, in 1715 the young monarch was five. His popularity was immense. During the first part of his reign, the King was under the guidance of the Regent his uncle who died in 1726, and later under that of Cardinal Fleury, his prime minister, whose main concern was to maintain peace in Europe. France had become the regulator of political alliances during these decades and took much pride in the achievement of political stability. The allegorical portrait of the King was, therefore, as much a piece of political propaganda as it was a portrait of the young ruler.
François Le Moyne painted another composition of this subject in 1736, formerly in the Rohan Collection and now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Strasbourg. This was painted in grisaille to serve as a modello for a frontispiece of a Sorbonne doctoral thesis. Again the artist paid great attention to the composition, for which there is a series of studies in the Louvre
This important commission proved to be one of the most significant events in the artist's career: it marked the moment when it became clear that Le Moyne was chosen through royal patronage to become the official painter of the new Reign. Since the early 1720s Le Moyne's reputation had grown steadily, checked only by the popularity of his rival Jean-François de Troy whose brilliant connections and virtuosity threatened his own success. Since the death of Antoine Coypel in 1722, the position of Premier Peintre du Roi had been left vacant. In 1725, the duc d'Antin had appointed to this post the celebrated, but semi-retired, Louis de Boullogne, thus deferring by a few years the difficult choice between the two rivals. When the need to choose an artist to paint the largest ceiling at Versailles in the Salon d'Hercule had become one of the most debated issues among academicians, the duc d'Antin had wanted to appoint Le Moyne. Yet in order to make his decision with an appearance of impartiality, d'Antin had devised the idea of a contest beween twelve of the most renowned painters of his time. The project back-fired: the public did not favor Le Moyne but Noël-Nicolas Coypel, and intense political pressure from the supporters of De Troy obliged the duc d'Antin to give a joint first prize to Le Moyne and De Troy. Nonetheless, Le Moyne unofficially received the commission of the Salon d'Hercule ceiling and it was only two years later that d'Antin confirmed this decision with the commission of the allegorical portrait, for which this drawing is a study, placed in the last salon of the King's state appartments at Versailles above the chimney, beside the doorway leading to the Hall of Mirrors. Thus, Le Moyne was made the heir apparent to the coveted title of Premier Peintre du Roi, which the King, however, was in no position to bestow on him before the ceiling in the Salon d'Hercule was completed in 1733.
The large oval picture was intended both as a portrait of the King and as an allegory showing France as the dispenser of Peace in Europe. Le Moyne asked ten thousand livres for his picture but only received seven on 10 March 1733. Faithful to the academic method, Le Moyne drew several compositional drawings, one recently acquired by the Château de Versailles and another two described in the Abbé Le Prince sale 22 February 1759, lot 16. Another, less securely attributed to the artist, is at Versailles, J. Guiffrey and P. Marcel, Inventaire général des dessins du Musée du Louvre et du Musée de Versailles, Paris, 1933, IX-X, no. 8678, illustrated. Nude studies for various figures are in the Louvre, J. Guiffrey and P. Marcel, op. cit., nos. 8691, 8696; and another one for the King is at Stockholm, P. Bjurström, French Drawings, Eighteenth Century, Stockholm, 1982, no. 1056, illustrated. Three other related studies of hands, legs and a baby's head are also in the Louvre, J. Guiffrey and P. Marcel, op. cit., nos. 8741, 8744, 8742.
Le Moyne rarely used pastel, A.J. Dézallier d'Argenville described his use of the technique in the Abrégé de la vie des plus fameux peintres, Paris, 1782, p. 427: 'Les dessins de Le Moine sont sur le papier gris à la pierre noire ou à la sanguine, relevé de blanc de craie, souvent il employait les trois crayons et quelque fois le pastel pour les têtes qu'il voulait étudier séparément, [Le Moyne's drawings are on grey paper drawn with black or red chalk, heightened with white chalk, he often used the three chalks and sometimes pastel for heads he wanted to study separately]. Only five sheets in this medium are known, although a lost pastel head is recorded in the Mariette sale, Paris, 15 November 1775, lot 1293, later in the Prince de Conti sale, 8 April 1777, lot 1079, where it was sketched by Gabriel de Saint-Aubin, E. Dacier, Catalogue de vente et Livrets de Salons illustrés par Gabriel de Saint-Aubin, Paris, 1919, X, p. 68, no. 219. This would appear to have been a study in pastel for the Head of Hymen in Louis XV donnant la paix à l'Europe.
All of the known pastels are working drawings which were not designed to be presentation pieces, with the possible exception of the more finished pastel head of King Louis XV recorded in the La Live de Jully sale, 5 March 1770. The most famous of Le Moyne's pastel heads is, however, the Head of Hebe, preparatory for one of the figures in the ceiling of the Apotheosis of Hercules, from the Lempereur sale now in the British Museum.
Two other pastels were only recently attributed to the artist by Henri Baderou. Both are studies of heads of bearded men in a very similar technique, one in the Musée des Beaux-Arts at Rouen and the other in the Metropolitan Museum, J.-L. Bordeaux, op. cit., Paris, 1984, respectively figs. 146 and 148.
The present pastel shows the King at the age of nineteen. At the death of his great-grandfather, King Louis XIV, in 1715 the young monarch was five. His popularity was immense. During the first part of his reign, the King was under the guidance of the Regent his uncle who died in 1726, and later under that of Cardinal Fleury, his prime minister, whose main concern was to maintain peace in Europe. France had become the regulator of political alliances during these decades and took much pride in the achievement of political stability. The allegorical portrait of the King was, therefore, as much a piece of political propaganda as it was a portrait of the young ruler.
François Le Moyne painted another composition of this subject in 1736, formerly in the Rohan Collection and now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Strasbourg. This was painted in grisaille to serve as a modello for a frontispiece of a Sorbonne doctoral thesis. Again the artist paid great attention to the composition, for which there is a series of studies in the Louvre