15 - Louise Élisabeth VIGÉE LE BRUN (Paris, 1755–1842).
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Estimate €60,000 - €80,000

Description

Louise Élisabeth VIGÉE LE BRUN (Paris, 1755–1842). Portrait of Charlotte-Jeanne Béraud de La Haye de Riou, Marquise de Montesson (1738–1806). Pastel on five sheets of paper mounted on an oval canvas. Signed and dated lower right ‘Mde Le Brun / 1779’. 80 × 63.5 cm. (Previous restorations) Original frame (damaged). Provenance: - Collection of the sitter, the Marquise de Montesson, morganatic widow of the First Prince of the Blood, Louis-Philippe d’Orléans (1725‒1785); - Inherited by her knight-in-arms, Jean-Baptiste Cyrus de Timbrune de Thiembronne, General Count of Valence (1757‒1822). In 1784, he married Pulchérie-Félicité-Edmée-Nicole Brûlart de Genlis (1767‒1847); - Collection of their daughter Louise-Rose-Aimée de Timbrune-Thiembronne de Valence (1789–1860). In 1816, she married Étienne Maurice, Count Gérard, Marshal of France (1773–1852), in Brussels; - Collection of their son, Louis-Maurice-Fortuné, Count Gérard (1819–1880); - Collection of her daughter Louise-Rose-Etiennette, known as Rosemonde Gérard (1866‒1953). She married Edmond Rostand (1868‒1918) in 1890; - The Edmond Rostand collection; - The collection has remained in the family through direct descent ever since. Bibliography: - Memoirs of Madame Louise-Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, of the Royal Academy of Paris, of Rouen, of Saint-Luc in Rome and Arcadia, of Parma and Bologna, of Saint Petersburg, of Berlin, of Geneva and Avignon, Paris, 1835, vol. I, pp. 143‒144; - W. H. Helm, Vigée-Lebrun 1755‒1842: Her Life, Works and Friendships, London and Aylesbury, [1915], pp. 61 and 212; - G. Haroche-Bouzinac, Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun: Histoire d’un regard, Paris, 2011, p. 88; - Exhibition catalogue, Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, edited by J. Baillio and X. Salmon, Paris, Grand Palais, National Galleries, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ottawa, the National Gallery of Canada, 2015–2016, cited under no. 83, p. 214 (location unknown); - Exhibition catalogue *One Hundred Portraits for a Century. From the Court to the City under the Reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI, edited by X. Salmon, Versailles, Musée Lambinet, 6 November 2019–1 March 2020, cited under no. 22, reproduced in fig. 1, p. 57; - Neil Jeffares’s website, accessed in July 2025, *Dictionary of Pastellists*, no. J.76.3055. Our pastel is the companion piece to the *Portrait of the ‘First Prince of the Blood’,* Louis Philippe de Bourbon, Duke of Orléans, known as ‘the Fat Duke’, wearing the insignia of the Orders of the Holy Spirit, the Golden Fleece and Saint Louis (pastel, 80 × 61 cm, signed and dated 1779, Paris, private collection). These two pastels are the two original portraits, certainly painted in the presence of the models, commissioned in 1779 and paid for at 480 livres each. Until now, we were only aware of the Portrait of the Duke, as our pastel had remained in the possession of the Marquise and subsequently of the descendants of her close friend, the Count of Valence. In 1754, Charlotte Jeanne Béraud de La Haye de Riou married the Marquis Jean-Baptiste de Montesson, who was 50 years her senior, and who introduced her to the court at Versailles. Her fortune increased considerably upon the death of her only brother, the Marquis de la Haie de Riou, a gentleman and senior officer in the gendarmerie, who was killed at the Battle of Minden (1759). Madame de Montesson’s excellent reputation, her beauty, her talents, her amiability and her kind nature made her a sought-after figure in society. Having been widowed in 1769, the Marquise secretly entered into a second marriage on 23 April 1773 with Duke Louis-Philippe d’Orléans, known as ‘Le Gros’ (1725–1785), father of Philippe-Égalité and grandfather of King Louis-Philippe. Her son, then Duke of Chartres, strongly opposed this union, which was regarded as a misalliance. King Louis XVI authorised the marriage, on condition that it remained secret for as long as possible. Charlotte Jeanne thus became a morganatic wife, unable to bear the title of Duchess of Orléans or enjoy the rank of first princess of the blood. The couple then led a secluded life at the Château de Raincy and the Château de Sainte-Assise in Seine-Port (Seine-et-Marne). On the death of the Duke of Orléans in 1785, the king forbade the Marquise from wearing conspicuous mourning or requiring her servants to do so. She suffered deeply from this lack of official recognition. A woman of letters and a renowned patron of the arts, Charlotte Jeanne, Marquise de Montesson, died on 5 February 1806. Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun produced two original portraits in pastel and five replicas, in both pastel and oil. The two pastels in the Louvre (acquired in 2014) are two of the five replicas created by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun. Painted quickly (the duke is not wearing the Golden Fleece) and at a lower cost, they were intended as a gift for the Marquis de Roncherolles, chief gentleman-in-waiting to the Duke of Orléans. We would like to thank Joseph Baillio for confirming their authenticity following an examination of the high-definition digital photograph in September 2025, for shedding light on the bibliography and provenance, and for linking our pastel to its counterpart, the Portrait of the Duke of Orléans, which Vigée Le Brun began painting at the Château du Raincy. The provenance of both works is the same up to the Countess Gérard, née de Timbrune de Thiembronne. A certificate from Joseph Baillio will be issued to the purchaser.

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Auction time 11/06/2026 at 2:00 PM

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15 - Louise Élisabeth VIGÉE LE BRUN (Paris, 1755–1842). See original version (French)

15 - Louise Élisabeth VIGÉE LE BRUN (Paris, 1755–1842).
See original version (French)