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Catalog
Premium Antoine VESTIER (Avallon, 1740 - Paris, 1824)
Allegory of Mu…
See original version (French)
Antoine VESTIER (Avallon, 1740 - Paris, 1824)
Allegory of Mu…
See original version (French)
Lot no. 39
Description
Antoine VESTIER (Avallon, 1740 - Paris, 1824)
Allegory of Music
Oil on canvas
Signed and dated 'Vestier / pinxit 1788' lower left
Allegory of Music, oil on canvas, signed and dated, by A. Vestier
31.88 x 32.29 in.
81 x 65 cm
Provenance: Chez Wildenstein, Paris, circa 1900 ;
Collection of Mrs Derek Fitz-Gerard;
Its sale, London, Sotheby's, 30 June 1965, no. 2 (with its counterpart, an 'Allegory of Drawing');
Newhouse Galleries, New York;
Anonymous sale; London, Phillips, 15 December 1998, no 73 (with its counterpart)
Exhibitions: Salon de 1789, Paris, n° 107
Bibliography: Emile Bellier de la Chavignerie and Louis Aubray, 'Dictionnaire général des artistes de l'Ecole française...', Paris, 1885, vol. II, p. 665
André Foulon de Vaulx, "Antoine Vestier, 1740-1824, notes et renseignements", in 'Le Carnet historique et littéraire', t. VII, February 1901, p. 232 and March 1901, p. 412
Jean-Claude Sueur, 'Le portraitiste Antoine Vestier', Neuilly, 1974, p. 64
Anne-Marie Passez, 'Antoine Vestier 1740-1824', Paris, 1989, p. 176-177, no. 72, repr.
Presented at the Salon of 1789, this allegory of music, depicting a young woman playing the guitar accompanied by a child turning the pages of her music book, had as its counterpart an allegory of drawing (fig.1). Executed in 1788, they were exhibited the following year alongside six other works by Vestier. Our painting bears witness to the precious and charming style that characterised his early career. The physiognomy of this painting was subsequently greatly "enriched", as can be seen from the reproduction in the catalogue raisonné written by Anne-Marie Passez1. The overpainting that altered the woman's headdress and the background was removed after 1998, restoring the painting to its original state.
Although allegories make up only a small part of Vestier's body of work, the representation of instruments and musicians seems to have been of particular interest to him2. An excellent portraitist, it was in this genre that he was admitted to the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture in 1786 on presentation of portraits of his colleagues Gabriel-François Doyen (Paris, Musée du Louvre) and Nicolas-Guy Brenet in 1786 (Versailles, Musée national du château et de Trianon). Our work bears witness to his talent for rendering expressions, looks and fabrics. This ease with portraiture then led him to miniature painting, a medium in which he proved particularly adept.
1 Anne-Marie Passez, 'Antoine Vestier 1740-1824', Paris, 1989, p. 177, fig. 72.
2 Examples include 'La Cantatrice Rose Renaut', 1791, Phoenix Art Museum, 'Mademoiselle Rouillé au piano', 1792, private collection, France, and 'Le Guitariste Gatayes', 1803, private collection, Paris.
Antoine VESTIER (Avallon, 1740 - Paris, 1824)
81 x 65 cm
See original version (French)
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