Lot Essay
Born in 1713 François Emmanuel Pommyer became Abbé of Bonneval, Conseiler de la Grande Chambre de Parlement, honorary Deacon of the Metropolitan church of Reims, Cannon of Saint-Martin of Tours, Président de la Chambre Souveraine du Clergé. As a great lover of art he was admitted as an honorary member to the Académie royale de Peinture et de Sculpture on 31 October 1767 (A. de Montaiglon, Procès-verbaux de l'Académie royale de Peinture et Sculpture 1648-1793, VII, 1886, pp. 370-371). A letter sent by François-Emmanuel Pommyer to the pastellist Maurice Quentin de la Tour dated 27 october 1767 in which the sitter states 'Je serois bien flatté, mon chère (sic) amy, d'apprendre de vous le résultat des bonnes vuets et intentions que vous, Mrs Chardin et Cochin, avés eus pour moy' indicates both his prior knowledge of the honour as well as his friendship with the three artists.
Cochin's connection to the Pommyer family has already been noted (see lot 46) but François-Emmanuel's relationship with Quentin de La Tour seems to have been particularly close. In a letter dated 15 October 1762 he assures the pastellist of his "attachement sincère et inviolable', and La Tour in his turn appointed Pommyer the executor of his will. Two portraits of the sitter in later years are also known from the hand of La Tour (see lot 53; and Saint-Quentin, Musée Antoine Lécuyer). In a letter from the sitter to Quentin de La Tour, dated 15 October 1762, we also find him wishing 'mille choses á M. et Mme. Chardin', and Pommyer became a noteable collector of Chardin's work. He acquired the Tableau de Fruits exhibited at the salon of 1763 (now generally identified with the Bocal d'Olives in the Musée du Louvre, Paris) and Les Attributs des Arts et les Récompenses qui leur sont accordées (1769; an autograph replica of the picture painted for Catherine II of Russia in 1766, now in the Hermitage, Saint Petersburg).
François-Emmanuel Pommyer regularly participated at the Séances of the Académie royale and became a well known figure in the artistic circles of eighteenth century Paris. The Procès Verbaux record how on 27 August 1768 he was attacked by students dissatisfied with the jury following the prize giving at the Académie (A. de Montaiglon, op. cit, pp. 399 ff.) He was also present at occasions such as the appointment of François Boucher to the position of Premier du Rois on 30 July 1768, and again on the 1 February 1782 when he announced d'Augusseau's election as an honorary associate of the Academy.
François Emmanuel Pommyer died on the 4 February 1784 aged 71 in his hotel on the rue de la Prague in Paris, and the news was conveyed to the Académie royale a few days later during the siéance of the 7th February (A. de Montaiglon, op. cit, IX, 1889, p. 186).
The present picture is to be included in Dr. Dominique Brême's forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the work of Nicolas de Largillière
Cochin's connection to the Pommyer family has already been noted (see lot 46) but François-Emmanuel's relationship with Quentin de La Tour seems to have been particularly close. In a letter dated 15 October 1762 he assures the pastellist of his "attachement sincère et inviolable', and La Tour in his turn appointed Pommyer the executor of his will. Two portraits of the sitter in later years are also known from the hand of La Tour (see lot 53; and Saint-Quentin, Musée Antoine Lécuyer). In a letter from the sitter to Quentin de La Tour, dated 15 October 1762, we also find him wishing 'mille choses á M. et Mme. Chardin', and Pommyer became a noteable collector of Chardin's work. He acquired the Tableau de Fruits exhibited at the salon of 1763 (now generally identified with the Bocal d'Olives in the Musée du Louvre, Paris) and Les Attributs des Arts et les Récompenses qui leur sont accordées (1769; an autograph replica of the picture painted for Catherine II of Russia in 1766, now in the Hermitage, Saint Petersburg).
François-Emmanuel Pommyer regularly participated at the Séances of the Académie royale and became a well known figure in the artistic circles of eighteenth century Paris. The Procès Verbaux record how on 27 August 1768 he was attacked by students dissatisfied with the jury following the prize giving at the Académie (A. de Montaiglon, op. cit, pp. 399 ff.) He was also present at occasions such as the appointment of François Boucher to the position of Premier du Rois on 30 July 1768, and again on the 1 February 1782 when he announced d'Augusseau's election as an honorary associate of the Academy.
François Emmanuel Pommyer died on the 4 February 1784 aged 71 in his hotel on the rue de la Prague in Paris, and the news was conveyed to the Académie royale a few days later during the siéance of the 7th February (A. de Montaiglon, op. cit, IX, 1889, p. 186).
The present picture is to be included in Dr. Dominique Brême's forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the work of Nicolas de Largillière