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Premium Marguerite GÉRARD (Grasse, 1761 - Paris, 1837 )
Portraits of…
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Marguerite GÉRARD (Grasse, 1761 - Paris, 1837 )
Portraits of…
See original version (French)
Lot no. 85
Description
Marguerite GÉRARD (Grasse, 1761 - Paris, 1837 )
Portraits of Jérôme Bonaparte (1784-1860), King of Westphalia, and his wife Catherine of Wurtemberg admiring an official portrait
Oil on canvas
Portraits of Jérôme Bonaparte (1784-1860), King of Westphalia, and his wife Catherine of Württemberg admiring an official portrait, oil on canvas, by M. Gerard
12.59 x 9.25 in.
32 x 23.5 cm
Provenance: Private collection, Ile-de-France
Our painting is a portrait of the royal couple of Westphalia, Jérôme Bonaparte - Napoleon's younger brother - and Catherine of Wurtemberg, accompanied by their little black dog Fortuné. Depicted in their palace in Cassel, Catherine is dressed in a Parisian court gown, similar to the one she wore at her wedding, while Jérôme Bonaparte is dressed in the ceremonial costume of his order. Our painting can be compared with a sketch of Jérôme and his wife that was presented at public auction as being attributed to François Joseph Kinson1 (fig. 1), as well as with his final painting in Cuba (Havana, Museo Napoleonico, oil on canvas, fig. 2), of which we know only a poor photograph but which appears in Marguerite Gérard's catalogue raisonné2 as a work presumed to be by him. Our painting is a first sketch for the final painting by Marguerite Gérard, which is in Cuba. In our painting, Catherine does not show her husband a portrait of the Emperor, but of Jérôme Bonaparte himself wearing a plumed hat as depicted in his 1808 equestrian portrait by Antoine-Jean Gros (Versailles, Châteaux of Versailles and Trianon). Our painting highlights the different proposals offered by the artist when sketching out a final composition. It is likely that the painting formerly attributed to Kinson was a second sketch in which the portrait of Jérôme Bonaparte was replaced by that of Napoleon. This change must have been suggested by Jérôme Bonaparte, who wanted to emphasise his loyalty to Napoleon. It is Napoleon's portrait that appears in the final painting in Cuba. Around 1808, Marguerite Gérard seems to have wanted to curry favour with the powers that be, as can be seen from the painting of the same year in the Musée national des châteaux de Malmaison et de Bois-Préau (inv. no. MM.92-5-1) depicting Napoleon's clemency towards Madame de Hatzfeld. Marguerite Gérard's interpretation of the painting pleased Joséphine at the time of its presentation at the Salon, and led to its purchase for her collections.
We would like to thank Mrs Carole Blumenfeld for kindly confirming the authenticity of this painting by means of a visual examination on 26 September 2025.
1 Maximo Sciolette Collection; Anonymous sale; Paris, Christie's, 22 June 2005, no. 17; private collection. It appears in Jérôme Napoléon, roi de Westphalie, cat. exp. Château de Fontainebleau, 10 October 2008 - 8 January 2009, p. 74, no. 14 (as Anonymous, 1807-1813).
2. Carole Blumenfeld, Marguerite Gérard 1761-1837, Montreuil, 2019, p. 237, no. 196 P? Carole Blumenfeld assumes that the painting was produced between 1806 and 1808.
Marguerite GÉRARD (Grasse, 1761 - Paris, 1837 )
32 x 23.5 cm
See original version (French)
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