Nicolas Lancret - Allegory of the fire

Nicolas Lancret

Allegory of the fire

Oil on canvas (relined). 75 x 109,2 cm.
Framed with gilded wooden frame ( 94 x 125 cm).
Signed and dated lower left: Lancret 1721.

In his assessment of 1992, Dr Börsch-Supan describes the connection between the present painting and two versions of the four elements of Lancret, which are now lost. One once belonged to the Marquis de Bérighen, the other to a Mr Beaujon (G. Wildenstein, Lancret, Paris 1924). These pictures were small cabinet pieces that were subsequently engraved in copper by different engravers.
The depiction of the "Fire" was executed by the engraver B. Audran. Dr Börsch Supan is certainly right in assuming that the present painting is a supraporte. This is supported above all by the unusual size and the strikingly wide format, as well as the sketch-like design of the picture, which was conceived for a distant effect.
Like Watteau and Pater, Nicolas Lancret was one of the French painters who were particularly appreciated at the court of Frederick the Great. 26 of Lancret's paintings can still be seen today in the royal palaces of Berlin and Potsdam.