Details
JEAN-LAURENT MOSNIER (1743/44-1808)
An Important pair of Portrait Miniatures depicting the Comtesse de Blarenghien and her daughter, the future Comtesse de Podenas; the mother facing left in low-cut frill-edged dove blue satin dress with bow at corsage and fur-bordered white satin cloak, her upswept powdered hair adorned with blue silk bandeau twisted with strand of pearls and white gauze, seated on gilt-wood chair, her daughter facing right in low-cut pink satin bodice with white chemise and light green silk bows, her upswept powdered hair entwined with pink silk ribbon, green foliage and white gauze
both signed and dated 'Mosnier 1778' (the mother lower left, the daughter lower right)
both oval, 2 1/8 in. (55 mm.) high, two-colour gold mounts chased with stylized acanthus borders, set on cover and base of a gold-mounted dark composition bonbonnière, the gold flange of the base struck with the discharge mark of Jean-Baptiste Fouache, Paris, 1775-1781 (3 in. 76 mm. diam.)
Provenance
Jean-Albert-Joseph de Buisseret, Comte de Blarenghien, Knight of the French Royal Military Order of Saint-Louis (1729-1800), husband and father of the sitters.
Given by him to his son, Louis-Henri-Joseph de Buisseret-Steenberque-Thiennes, Comte de Blarenghien (1765-1845), son and brother of the sitters.
Thence by family descent to the present owner.
Literature
P. Lambotte, 'Exposition de la Miniature, Bruxelles, mars-juin 1912', L'Art Flamand & Hollandais, XVII, no. 5, 15 May 1912, illustrated p. 152 (the mother).
P. Lambotte, 'Tentoonstelling van Miniaturen gehouden te Brussel, maart-juni 1912', Onze Kunst, XXI, June 1912, illustrated p. 205 (the mother).
P.-A. Lemoisne, 'Les miniaturistes français à l'exposition de Bruxelles', Les Arts, 129, September 1912, p. 14, both illustrated p. 15.
P.-A. Lemoisne, 'Le portrait-miniature en France de la Régence au règne de Louis-Philippe', in L'Exposition de la Miniature à Bruxelles en 1912, Brussels and Paris, 1913, pp. 66-67 ([...] Mosnier nous a laissé de délicieux petits médaillons où il a représenté simplement des modèles en buste sur fond uni; parmi ceux-ci, les plus intéressants sont les portraits de la comtesse Marie-Josèphe-Charlotte de Buisseret et la vicomtesse de Podenas, née Charlotte-Albertine-Maria de Buisseret, appartenant au Cte de Buisseret de Blarenghien [...]; rarement l'art de Mosnier fut mieux représenté que par ces délicates petites peintures.', illustrated colour pl. XXVII, no. 124 (the mother), monotone pl. XXVIII, no. 128 (the daughter).
L. de Mauri, L'Amatore di Miniature su Avorio, Milan, 1918, illustrated p. 362 (the mother).
L. R. Schidlof, The miniature in Europe, Graz, 1964, II, pp. 574, 575 (both praised as 'very good').
