Théodore Chassériau (Sainte-Barbe-de-Samana, San Domingo 1819-1856 Paris)

Théodore Chassériau (Sainte-Barbe-de-Samana 1819-1856 Paris)

Portrait of Baron Claude-François Méneval

Details

Théodore Chassériau (Sainte-Barbe-de-Samana 1819-1856 Paris)
Portrait of Baron Claude-François Méneval
signed and dated 'Th Chasseriau / 1852'
pencil, with touches of white heightening
14¾ x 9 7/8 in. (37.3 x 25.2 cm.)

Provenance

E. Jacquinot; Hôtel Drouot, Paris 12-14 March 1888, lot 83 (with a drawing of Madame Méneval).
Eugène, Baron de Méneval (son of the sitter), by 1893.
Anonymous sale; Hôtel des Ventes, Orléans, 24 March 2001, lot 21.
Acquired from the above by the present owner.

Literature

V. Chevillard, Un peintre romantique, Théodore Chassériau, Paris, 1893, p. 305, no. 297 ('Portrait du général [sic] baron de Méneval. Haut 0m 35. -- Larg., 0m30').
L.-A. Prat, 'Notules graphiques' in Chassériau (1819-1856), un autre romantisme. Actes du colloque organisé par le Musée du Louvre, le 16 mars 2002, S. Guégan and L.-A. Prat eds., Paris, 2002, pp. 90, 92, 98, nt. 17, fig. 9.
Exh. cat. Chassériau, un autre romantisme, Paris, Grand Palais and elsewhere, 2003, p. 342, under no. 208.

Lot Essay

Méneval (1778-1850) served as secretary to Joseph Bonaparte in the 1790s, before his appointment in 1802 as secretary to Napoleon, then First Consul. As a reward for his services, Napoleon made Méneval a baron in 1810. After the fall of Napoleon, Méneval wrote several memoirs about his time in government. Napoleon bequeathed 100,000 francs to his secretary upon his death in 1821.
Chassériau's drawing is most likely connected with a posthumous painted portrait commissioned by the baron's children and completed in 1853 (M. Sandoz, Théodore Chassériau (1819-1856): catalogue raisonné des peintures et estampes, Paris, 1974, pp.364-65, no. 225, pl. CXC). The painting includes a bust of Napoleon to the right of Méneval. Sandoz notes two other drawings related to the painting, a study for the head of Méneval now in the Château of Malmaison, and a sketch of the bust of Napoleon in the Louvre (Inv. 25048).

More from Old Master and British Drawings

View All