Charles-Joseph Natoire (Nîmes 1700-1777 Castel Gandolfo)

This picture may have formed part of a series of four overdoors, commissioned from Natoire in 1741 for the audience chamber of the castle of Christianborg, Denmark; the others depicting La Force et la Prudence, L'Amitié et la Fidelité, and La Paix et l'Abondance (see Boyer, op. cit., nos. 280-83, and catalogue of the exhibition Art and Decoration, Heim Gallery London, 1981, no. 10). Although these were thought to have been destroyed by the fire that damaged the castle in 1794, it is possible that either some of the pictures survived the fire or had been removed as the result of the redecoration of the castle.

We are grateful to J. Patrice Marandel for confirming the attribution. He will include this picture in his forthcoming catalogue raisonné on the work of Natoire.