AIMEE-ZOE LIZINKA DE MIRBEL, NEE RUE (FRENCH, 1796-1849)

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THE PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR

Details

AIMEE-ZOE LIZINKA DE MIRBEL, NEE RUE (FRENCH, 1796-1849)
Louis XVIII (1755-1824), King of France 1814/1815 - 1824, in blue coat with gold epaulettes, wearing orders including the blue moiré sash and breast-star of the Royal French Order of the Saint Esprit, the breast-star of the Order of Notre-Dame du Mont Carmel, the Orders of the Legion of Honour and Saint Louis
signed 'M^l^l^e Lizinka Rue 1818' (mid-left)
on ivory
oval, 3 9/16 in. (91 mm.) high, rectangular ormolu frame with foliate surround

Provenance

Sotheby's, London, 29 March 1976, lot 117.

Literature

Moniteur Universel, 28 August 1818.
A. Jal, Dictionnaire critique de biographie et d'histoire, Paris, 1867, p. 866.
H. Bouchot, 'Le portrait miniature en France (quatrième article)', Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1895, 3rd period, XIII, p. 238.
R. Jean, 'Madame de Mirbel', Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1906, 3rd period, XXXV, p. 134.
L. R. Schidlof, Die Bildnisminiatur in Frankreich im XVII., XVIII. und XIX. Jahrhundert, Vienna and Leipzig, 1911, p. 83.
L. de Mauri, L'Amatore di Miniature su Avorio, Milan, 1918, p. 357. E. Bénézit, Dictionnaire critique et documentaire [...], Paris, 1976, p. 434.
G. Reynolds, Wallace Collection. Catalogue of Miniatures, London, 1980, p. 252.
N. Lemoine-Bouchard, Les Peintres en miniature actifs en France 1650-1850, Paris, 2008, p. 385.
S. Duffy and C. M. Vogtherr, Miniatures in the Wallace Collection, London, 2010, p. 147.

Special notice

Prospective purchasers are advised that several countries prohibit the importation of property containing materials from endangered species, including but not limited to coral, ivory and tortoiseshell. Accordingly, prospective purchasers should familiarize themselves with relevant customs regulations prior to bidding if they intend to import this lot into another country.

Brought to you by

Matilda Burn

mburns@christies.com +44 (0)20 7752 3026

Lot Essay

The present portrait led to Lizinka's appointment by the king as Peintre en miniature de la Chambre du Roi. According to A. Jal (supra), Lizinka, who without royal appointment was not allowed immediate access to the king, painted him through a gap in the door whilst he was eating lunch. Aware that he was being painted, the king was sympathetic towards her and remained relatively still throughout. The portrait was finished and it gained her official status as court painter, a position she maintained under Charles X and his successor, Louis-Philippe. She was the most celebrated female miniature painter of her day, exhibiting at the Paris Salon and teaching miniature painting to pupils at her studio. A rectangular variant of the present miniature, dated 1819, by her is in the Wallace Collection (supra).
The sale of the artist's estate in 1849 contained as lot 4 a miniature of 'Louis XVIII Mlle Lizinka Rue, 1818' which may well be the present portrait.

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