Lot Essay
The present pair of paintings was commissioned in 1737 by M. Orry, the directeur des Bâtiments du Roi for the petits appartements of Louis XV at the Château de Fontainebleau. While the present pair was painted for the large dining room, the commission consisted of four other paintings; a pair of pastorales for the adjoining small dining room and a port scene and Colin-Maillard for the cabinet du Roi. All six pictures were lost, presumably dispersed following the Revolution, until the recent discovery of the pair from the small dining room, now in a private collection, Italy (J.P. Marandel, loc. cit.) and the present pair.
In Engerand's inventory of works commissioned in the 18th century by the Director of the King's Buildings, loc. cit., the above paintings are described as follows:
"des chasseurs qui se reposent, un d'eux se met
en joue pour tirer; ayant de hauteur 3 pieds 8
pouces sur 3 pieds; à oreilles par en bas"
and
"des chasseurs qui vont entrer une ferme, ils sont
arrêtez à la porte par deux jÿeunes bergères
dont l'une vient puiser de l'eau; à oreilles par
en bas"
F. Boyer, loc. cit., notes that the paintings were last mentioned in the minutes of a September 18, 1793 meeting of the Commission des Monuments (not found), a committee entrusted with the dispersal of artworks from Royal buildings. It is probably around this time that the paintings left Fontainebleau. Boyer also states erroneously that all six paintings were exhibited at the Salon of 1737.
The dimensions of the above works, as noted by Engerand and subsequently Boyer (1,18 x 0,97 cm.) differ slightly from that of the present pair. It is not at all unusual, though, that the paintings should have lost several centimeters, having been removed from a decorative framing which may have included boiseries at the borders.
J.P. Marandel has noted the existence of a red and white chalk drawing for the figure of the kneeling boy pulling something from a sack, at the left of 'The Resting Hunter', in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen (Hédou Bequest, L. 1253; see French Master Drawings from the Rouen Museum, from Caron to Delacroix, catalogue by P. Rosenberg and F. Bergot, organized and circulated by the International Exhibitions Foundation, 1981-82, no. 81, pl. 61). That the boy is seen in this drawing in full is further evidence that the painting has been cut down slightly.
The above paintings will be included in J.P. Marandel's catalogue raisonné on Natoire now in preparation. We are grateful to him for his assistance in the cataloguing of this lot
In Engerand's inventory of works commissioned in the 18th century by the Director of the King's Buildings, loc. cit., the above paintings are described as follows:
"des chasseurs qui se reposent, un d'eux se met
en joue pour tirer; ayant de hauteur 3 pieds 8
pouces sur 3 pieds; à oreilles par en bas"
and
"des chasseurs qui vont entrer une ferme, ils sont
arrêtez à la porte par deux jÿeunes bergères
dont l'une vient puiser de l'eau; à oreilles par
en bas"
F. Boyer, loc. cit., notes that the paintings were last mentioned in the minutes of a September 18, 1793 meeting of the Commission des Monuments (not found), a committee entrusted with the dispersal of artworks from Royal buildings. It is probably around this time that the paintings left Fontainebleau. Boyer also states erroneously that all six paintings were exhibited at the Salon of 1737.
The dimensions of the above works, as noted by Engerand and subsequently Boyer (1,18 x 0,97 cm.) differ slightly from that of the present pair. It is not at all unusual, though, that the paintings should have lost several centimeters, having been removed from a decorative framing which may have included boiseries at the borders.
J.P. Marandel has noted the existence of a red and white chalk drawing for the figure of the kneeling boy pulling something from a sack, at the left of 'The Resting Hunter', in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen (Hédou Bequest, L. 1253; see French Master Drawings from the Rouen Museum, from Caron to Delacroix, catalogue by P. Rosenberg and F. Bergot, organized and circulated by the International Exhibitions Foundation, 1981-82, no. 81, pl. 61). That the boy is seen in this drawing in full is further evidence that the painting has been cut down slightly.
The above paintings will be included in J.P. Marandel's catalogue raisonné on Natoire now in preparation. We are grateful to him for his assistance in the cataloguing of this lot