FRANÇOIS DUMONT (FRENCH, 1751-1831)

Prospective purchasers are advised that several co… Read more

Details

FRANÇOIS DUMONT (FRENCH, 1751-1831)
Mesdames de Malachelles and Pâris d'Illins (1764-1831), strolling in a wooded landscape with a cascade to the left and a river, Roman ruins and a mountain to the right; one lady wearing a white striped blue dress, her sister a pink dress with black gauze stole
signed ‘Dumont’ (mid-left)
on ivory
3 in. (75 mm.) diam., gilt-metal frame

Provenance

The Property of a lady; Christie’s, Geneva, 16 May 1995, lot 159.

Literature

The artist's second fee book (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Fondation Jacques Doucet, Ms. 104), folio 7 (in 1788, ‘Mesdames de Malachelles et Pâris 36’ [louis d'or]).
L. R. Schidlof, The Miniature in Europe, Graz, 1964, II, p. 948, illustrated III, pl. 190, fig. 353.

Exhibited

Geneva, Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Chefs-d'oeuvre de la miniature et de la gouache, 1956, no. 140.
Vienna, Albertina, Meisterwerke der europäischen Miniaturmalerei von 1750-1850, 1965, no. 187.

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.

Sale room notice

The USA has recently changed its policy on the import of property containing elephant ivory. Only Asian Elephant ivory may be imported into the USA, and imports must be accompanied by DNA analysis and confirmation the object is more than 100 years old. Buyers will be responsible for the costs of obtaining any DNA analysis or other report required in connection with their proposed import into the USA. A buyer’s inability to export or import a lot is not a basis for cancelling their purchase.

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Lot Essay

The identity of the sitters was first published in Dr B. Hofstetter’s thesis on François Dumont in 1994. Cunégonde Brillon de Jouy, born in Paris in 1764, was married in 1783 to the General Marie-Antoine Pâris d'Illins. During the French Revolution, the General emigrated and in 1793 divorced his wife in order to save her life and their family goods. They remarried in 1801. Madame de Malachelles was Cunégonde's sister; according to Dumont's fee book, both the Pâris d'Illins and the de Malachelles families were among the artist's most important clients at the end of the Ancien Régime.

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