拍品專文
In 1735, Jean-Etienne Liotard left his home town of Geneva for a long voyage. After highly successful sojourns in Italy, the Ottoman Empire, Austria, Germany and France, the self-styled peintre turc arrived in England in 1753. During the three years of his first stay in London, he was, as he had been in the capitals on the Continent, showered with commissions. The widowed Princess of Wales ordered pastels and miniatures of the Royal Family, and on 15 August 1755 she acquired from him three 'portraits en miniature' (Windsor, Royal Archives, 55448). English connoisseurs such as Horace Walpole praised his talent but criticized him as being 'avaricious beyond imagination': 'In his journey to the Levant, he adopted the eastern habit, and wore it here with a very long beard. It contributed much to the portrait of himself, and some thought to draw customers: but he was really a painter of uncommon merit.' (W. S. Lewis [ed.], The Correspondence and Journals of Horace Walpole, Oxford and New Haven, 1937-83, XX, p. 362). 'He painted admirably well in miniature, and finely in enamel, though he seldom practised it. But he is best known by his works in crayon.' (H. Walpole, Description of the villa of Mr. Horace Walpole [...], Strawberry Hill, 1784, p. 28, note 3). Indeed, from his first English period, it is mostly the pastel portraits that have survived (see R. Loche and M. Roethlisberger, L'opera completa di Liotard, Milan, 1978, pp. 103-106).
The present recently discovered and therefore unrecorded enamel miniature is an outstanding addition to the group of only five hitherto documented enamels by Liotard painted in England during the years 1753-1755:
- The Self-portrait in profile, 1753, illustrated in the exhibition catalogue Portrait Miniatures from the Collection of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, New York, San Marino, Richmond and London 1996-1997, no. 51.
- King George III when Prince of Wales, c. 1754, cf. R. Walker, Miniatures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, Cambridge, 1992, no. 729.
- King George III when Prince of Wales, signed and dated 1754, illustrated in K. Schaffers-Bodenhausen and M. Tiethoff-Spliethoff, The Portrait Miniatures in the Collections of the House of Orange-Nassau, Zwolle, 1993, no. 193.
- Georgina Poyntz, signed and dated 1754, in the Musée de l'Horlogerie et de l'Emaillerie, Geneva, inv. AD3721.
- John, first Earl Spencer, c. 1755, illustrated in C. Truman, The Gilbert Collection of Gold Boxes, Los Angeles, 1991, p. 39.
It is noteworthy that there are no known identical large-scale prototypes for the above-mentioned enamels and indeed for the present lot. This fact would suggest that, at least at this moment in his career, Liotard considered miniatures as independent works of art in their own right and not merely as reduced copies of large pastel or oil portraits. Liotard's high appreciation of the art of enamelling is witnessed by a letter to Lord Bute, dated 4 March 1761, suggesting he immortalize the young King by painting him in enamel: 'je le consacrerois à l'Immortalité en le peignant en Email en grand le seul genre durable et digne d'un Roi qui commence à regner avec tant de gloire' (R. Walker, op. cit., p. 260).
It appears that this large enamel portrait was not commissioned and that the sole recorded portraits of George III by Liotard were to be the pastel in the Royal Collection and its replica, and the heavily damaged enamel in the Royal Collection and the magnificent enamel in the Dutch Royal Collection. These portraits provide a 'most sensitive impression of the kind, lonely, repressed and easily abashed young Prince' (exhibition catalogue Kings & Queens, London, The Queen's Gallery, 1982-83, p. 87). The present portrait aims less at psychological insight into the character of a startled boy of sixteen rather than at the representation of the Prince of Wales. The subject is shown half-length and the distance between the artist and the Royal sitter strengthens the official character of this portrait. The framing of these enamels adds further stress to their different purposes. The intimate character of the enamel in the Dutch Royal Collection is demonstrated by its green shagreen case while the present portrait is set in a sparkling gem-set silver-gilt frame with presentation inscription. The errors in the spelling of the artist's name and in the age of the sitter are probably due to misreading of a handwritten note. It is possible that the miniature was initially mounted in the lid of a precious gold presentation snuff-box which may have later been sold for the value of the gold, a common practice in the 18th and early 19th Centuries.
This enamel will be included in the forthcoming updated catalogue raisonné of Jean-Etienne Liotard's works by Renée Loche and Marcel Roethlisberger, Geneva.
The present recently discovered and therefore unrecorded enamel miniature is an outstanding addition to the group of only five hitherto documented enamels by Liotard painted in England during the years 1753-1755:
- The Self-portrait in profile, 1753, illustrated in the exhibition catalogue Portrait Miniatures from the Collection of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, New York, San Marino, Richmond and London 1996-1997, no. 51.
- King George III when Prince of Wales, c. 1754, cf. R. Walker, Miniatures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, Cambridge, 1992, no. 729.
- King George III when Prince of Wales, signed and dated 1754, illustrated in K. Schaffers-Bodenhausen and M. Tiethoff-Spliethoff, The Portrait Miniatures in the Collections of the House of Orange-Nassau, Zwolle, 1993, no. 193.
- Georgina Poyntz, signed and dated 1754, in the Musée de l'Horlogerie et de l'Emaillerie, Geneva, inv. AD3721.
- John, first Earl Spencer, c. 1755, illustrated in C. Truman, The Gilbert Collection of Gold Boxes, Los Angeles, 1991, p. 39.
It is noteworthy that there are no known identical large-scale prototypes for the above-mentioned enamels and indeed for the present lot. This fact would suggest that, at least at this moment in his career, Liotard considered miniatures as independent works of art in their own right and not merely as reduced copies of large pastel or oil portraits. Liotard's high appreciation of the art of enamelling is witnessed by a letter to Lord Bute, dated 4 March 1761, suggesting he immortalize the young King by painting him in enamel: 'je le consacrerois à l'Immortalité en le peignant en Email en grand le seul genre durable et digne d'un Roi qui commence à regner avec tant de gloire' (R. Walker, op. cit., p. 260).
It appears that this large enamel portrait was not commissioned and that the sole recorded portraits of George III by Liotard were to be the pastel in the Royal Collection and its replica, and the heavily damaged enamel in the Royal Collection and the magnificent enamel in the Dutch Royal Collection. These portraits provide a 'most sensitive impression of the kind, lonely, repressed and easily abashed young Prince' (exhibition catalogue Kings & Queens, London, The Queen's Gallery, 1982-83, p. 87). The present portrait aims less at psychological insight into the character of a startled boy of sixteen rather than at the representation of the Prince of Wales. The subject is shown half-length and the distance between the artist and the Royal sitter strengthens the official character of this portrait. The framing of these enamels adds further stress to their different purposes. The intimate character of the enamel in the Dutch Royal Collection is demonstrated by its green shagreen case while the present portrait is set in a sparkling gem-set silver-gilt frame with presentation inscription. The errors in the spelling of the artist's name and in the age of the sitter are probably due to misreading of a handwritten note. It is possible that the miniature was initially mounted in the lid of a precious gold presentation snuff-box which may have later been sold for the value of the gold, a common practice in the 18th and early 19th Centuries.
This enamel will be included in the forthcoming updated catalogue raisonné of Jean-Etienne Liotard's works by Renée Loche and Marcel Roethlisberger, Geneva.