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Lot Essay
If the present painting is mentioned by Henri Harrisse in his catalogue raisonné of Boilly's works published in 1898, the author did not realize that it had appeared in the Yvon Sale of 1881, where it was identified with the title Le Sommeil Simulé. The biographer only makes reference to Wolff's engraving of the painting Le Sommeil Trompeur (fig. 1), which he describes in minute detail. He also mentions the existence of a pendant engraved by Wolff, Le Réveil Prémédité (fig. 2). Painted around 1796, the subject of the Sommeil Trompeur is typical of genre scenes of the ancien régime and is characteristic of the artistic current at the end of the eighteenth-century.
Before the Revolution, Boilly was regarded as a genre painter who treated scènes galantes in the pure spirit of the ancien régime. From 1789 to 1792 Boilly found a true patron and philanthropist in Antoine Calvet de Lapalum (1736-1820), a wealthy collector from Avignon who assigned themes for Boilly's paintings that deviated from the privileged art themes of the eighteenth-century, focussing instead on love and its mishaps. Meanwhile, in 1790, Boilly settled into the hôtel Bullion, home of the most celebrated paintings dealer of the era, Alexandre-Joseph Paillet. Paillet had become famous a few years earlier when he bought Fragonard's The Visitation from the Conti Sale (see lot no. 42). The year 1790 also saw the birth of the Society of Friends of the Arts of which Boilly was a member. In a shifting society, this group of artists, actors, musicians and poets celebrated the philosophy of Epicurus; these were the years, after all, when Laclos published Les liaisons dangereuses and Restif de la Bretonne cast a glance at la nymphe du palais Royal. Boilly did not miss out on treating similar subjects, and he kept up with his times. In the Salon of 1804, he exhibited les Galeries du palais royal (lost) and he joined his friends in posing for his famous L'atelier d'Isabey (Musée du Louvre).
The pendant to the present painting, its whereabouts unknown, has come down to us in an engraving. The subjects of the pendants unfold like the two acts of a play, and only their titles serve to describe the events: Le Sommeil Trompeur-Le Réveil Prémédité. (figs. 1&2).
The formula for Le Sommeil Trompeur is typical of Boilly's genre paintings: two characters, theatrical light effects and a few accessories to set the scene - a chair, a screen, a pianoforte. Boilly would use the pianoforte again a few years later in his celebrated portrait of the composer Boieldieu (Rouen Museum).
Boilly's paintings became popular through the diffusion of engravings by artists close to Boilly like Wolff and Tresca, and one day it would be wonderful to see Le Sommeil Trompeur and Le Réveil Prémédité once again reunited as they were when Boilly created them.
This painting will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of works by Boilly being prepared by Etienne Bréton and Pascal Zuber.
Before the Revolution, Boilly was regarded as a genre painter who treated scènes galantes in the pure spirit of the ancien régime. From 1789 to 1792 Boilly found a true patron and philanthropist in Antoine Calvet de Lapalum (1736-1820), a wealthy collector from Avignon who assigned themes for Boilly's paintings that deviated from the privileged art themes of the eighteenth-century, focussing instead on love and its mishaps. Meanwhile, in 1790, Boilly settled into the hôtel Bullion, home of the most celebrated paintings dealer of the era, Alexandre-Joseph Paillet. Paillet had become famous a few years earlier when he bought Fragonard's The Visitation from the Conti Sale (see lot no. 42). The year 1790 also saw the birth of the Society of Friends of the Arts of which Boilly was a member. In a shifting society, this group of artists, actors, musicians and poets celebrated the philosophy of Epicurus; these were the years, after all, when Laclos published Les liaisons dangereuses and Restif de la Bretonne cast a glance at la nymphe du palais Royal. Boilly did not miss out on treating similar subjects, and he kept up with his times. In the Salon of 1804, he exhibited les Galeries du palais royal (lost) and he joined his friends in posing for his famous L'atelier d'Isabey (Musée du Louvre).
The pendant to the present painting, its whereabouts unknown, has come down to us in an engraving. The subjects of the pendants unfold like the two acts of a play, and only their titles serve to describe the events: Le Sommeil Trompeur-Le Réveil Prémédité. (figs. 1&2).
The formula for Le Sommeil Trompeur is typical of Boilly's genre paintings: two characters, theatrical light effects and a few accessories to set the scene - a chair, a screen, a pianoforte. Boilly would use the pianoforte again a few years later in his celebrated portrait of the composer Boieldieu (Rouen Museum).
Boilly's paintings became popular through the diffusion of engravings by artists close to Boilly like Wolff and Tresca, and one day it would be wonderful to see Le Sommeil Trompeur and Le Réveil Prémédité once again reunited as they were when Boilly created them.
This painting will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of works by Boilly being prepared by Etienne Bréton and Pascal Zuber.