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Lot Essay
Demachy was a student of the French architect, painter and stage designer Jean-Nicolas Servandoni (1695-1766). He became a member of the Académie in 1755 and exhibited regularly at the Salon from 1757 through 1802 showing historical or architectural compositions. He was a contemporary of Hubert Robert and, like him, Demachy is best known for his urban views, in most cases of his hometown of Paris. His colorful city views - while architecturally accurate - are also populated with figures engaging in everyday activities. Demachy’s works also provide an invaluable record of the massive architectural projects that were changing the cityscape of Paris during the 18th Century. In the present gouache Demachy has depicted such a scene.
Abandoned as a royal residence in 1682, the Louvre became a haphazard collective of spaces, with little oversight or upkeep until the Marquis de Marigny (1727-1781), Directeur-général des bâtiments du roi, undertook a massive refurbishment of the site. This meant transforming a previous royal residence into a cultural center, housing the Académie and the Salon. In the beautiful portrait by Alexander Roslin in the Aitken collection (lot 228), Marigny holds the plans of the Louvre and on his desk is a small painted view of the Colonnade. The transformation of the palace must have fascinated Demachy, as it was a subject to which he returned often in paintings and drawings over the years. Living on the Rue Froidmanteau, Demachy likely passed the construction site daily, enabling him to note its progress and delays (M. Roland Michel, ‘The Clearance of the Colonnade of the Louvre. A Study Arising from a Painting by de Machy’, The Burlington Magazine, CXX, no. 906 (1978), pp. i–vi). Demachy’s composition shows the clearing of older buildings in front of the east façade of the Louvre, which faced the Seine, designed by Claude Perrault (1613-1688) in the third quarter of the 17th Century. While the present work is dated 1759, construction on the east side of the Louvre had begun in 1756.
Demachy exhibited this work at the Salon of 1759 along with three other gouaches; together they formed a series showing the development of the reconstruction of the Louvre.
Abandoned as a royal residence in 1682, the Louvre became a haphazard collective of spaces, with little oversight or upkeep until the Marquis de Marigny (1727-1781), Directeur-général des bâtiments du roi, undertook a massive refurbishment of the site. This meant transforming a previous royal residence into a cultural center, housing the Académie and the Salon. In the beautiful portrait by Alexander Roslin in the Aitken collection (lot 228), Marigny holds the plans of the Louvre and on his desk is a small painted view of the Colonnade. The transformation of the palace must have fascinated Demachy, as it was a subject to which he returned often in paintings and drawings over the years. Living on the Rue Froidmanteau, Demachy likely passed the construction site daily, enabling him to note its progress and delays (M. Roland Michel, ‘The Clearance of the Colonnade of the Louvre. A Study Arising from a Painting by de Machy’, The Burlington Magazine, CXX, no. 906 (1978), pp. i–vi). Demachy’s composition shows the clearing of older buildings in front of the east façade of the Louvre, which faced the Seine, designed by Claude Perrault (1613-1688) in the third quarter of the 17th Century. While the present work is dated 1759, construction on the east side of the Louvre had begun in 1756.
Demachy exhibited this work at the Salon of 1759 along with three other gouaches; together they formed a series showing the development of the reconstruction of the Louvre.