Marie-Anne Loir Presumed Portrait of Monsieur de la Blotterie
Marie-Anne Loir
Paris 1705 - 1783
Presumed Portrait of Monsieur de la Blotterie
Oil on canvas
102 x 82,2 cm ; 40⅛ by 32⅜ in.
Catalogue Note:
This portrait, remarkable for the striking naturalness of the sitter’s pose, is characteristic in this respect, as well as in the arrangement of the overall composition, of the mature works of Marie-Anne Loir.
Much more is now known about her, following a recent article by Catherine Voiriot ('Marie-Anne Loir: A Woman Portraitist under the Reign of Louis XV,' in Revue de l’Art, 2019/3, no. 205, pp. 39–50), which reviewed the most advanced scholarship on the artist and presented numerous new discoveries.
Born into a dynasty of renowned painters and goldsmiths (Nicolas Loir was her great-uncle, while she herself was the granddaughter of his brother, the goldsmith Guillaume II Loir), she was born in Paris in 1705 and probably received her training within her family, while perhaps also spending some time in the workshop of Jean-François de Troy.
A close associate of Dandré-Bardon, she was admitted in 1762 as an associate member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts de Marseille. She also pursued a career as a portraitist, mainly in Paris, but frequently taking provincial visitors to the capital as her sitters. Her most famous portrait, that of Émilie du Châtelet, is now held by the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux (inv. BxE19).
Traditionally identified as a portrait of Monsieur de la Blotterie on the basis of an old label formerly attached to the frame, which described him as “Monsieur de la Blotterie, argentier to King Louis XV,” it could in fact be a portrait of Michel Coupard de la Blotterie, secretary to the king and lord of La Freslonnière and Souligné-sous-Ballon, in the Sarthe.
Provenance:
Anonymous sale, Vassy et Jalenques, Clermont-Ferrand, 10 February 2007, lot 66;
With Frédérick Chanoit, Paris, 2009.
Literature:
L'Estampille - L'Objet d'Art, vol. 435, May 2008, p. 80.
Estimate
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Marie-Anne Loir
Paris 1705 - 1783
Presumed Portrait of Monsieur de la Blotterie
Oil on canvas
102 x 82,2 cm ; 40⅛ by 32⅜ in.
Catalogue Note:
This portrait, remarkable for the striking naturalness of the sitter’s pose, is characteristic in this respect, as well as in the arrangement of the overall composition, of the mature works of Marie-Anne Loir.
Much more is now known about her, following a recent article by Catherine Voiriot ('Marie-Anne Loir: A Woman Portraitist under the Reign of Louis XV,' in Revue de l’Art, 2019/3, no. 205, pp. 39–50), which reviewed the most advanced scholarship on the artist and presented numerous new discoveries.
Born into a dynasty of renowned painters and goldsmiths (Nicolas Loir was her great-uncle, while she herself was the granddaughter of his brother, the goldsmith Guillaume II Loir), she was born in Paris in 1705 and probably received her training within her family, while perhaps also spending some time in the workshop of Jean-François de Troy.
A close associate of Dandré-Bardon, she was admitted in 1762 as an associate member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts de Marseille. She also pursued a career as a portraitist, mainly in Paris, but frequently taking provincial visitors to the capital as her sitters. Her most famous portrait, that of Émilie du Châtelet, is now held by the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux (inv. BxE19).
Traditionally identified as a portrait of Monsieur de la Blotterie on the basis of an old label formerly attached to the frame, which described him as “Monsieur de la Blotterie, argentier to King Louis XV,” it could in fact be a portrait of Michel Coupard de la Blotterie, secretary to the king and lord of La Freslonnière and Souligné-sous-Ballon, in the Sarthe.
Provenance:
Anonymous sale, Vassy et Jalenques, Clermont-Ferrand, 10 February 2007, lot 66;
With Frédérick Chanoit, Paris, 2009.
Literature:
L'Estampille - L'Objet d'Art, vol. 435, May 2008, p. 80.
Estimate
Reserve
Time, Location
Auction House
