Galerie Dreyfus
15
-
JEAN-BAPTISTE CHARPENTIER (PARIS, 1728 – PARIS, 1806)
A flow…
See original version (French)
15
-
JEAN-BAPTISTE CHARPENTIER (PARIS, 1728 – PARIS, 1806)
A flow…
See original version (French)
Estimate €14,000 - €18,000
Voluntary lot
Description
JEAN-BAPTISTE CHARPENTIER
(PARIS, 1728 – PARIS, 1806)
A flower seller and a painting seller in front of a stall
c. 1790
Oil on canvas
38 x 46 cm
Traces of a signature in the lower left-hand corner (...ntier)
Everything here seems to have been captured on the spot. We catch these figures in the spontaneity of
their daily activities and delight in imagining their adventures. In the foreground, the
eye is drawn to two women in the midst of an altercation, judging by the demeanour of the older woman,
who has her back to us. With her hands on her hips, she is vehemently rebuking a young
flower seller, who turns towards her, taken aback. Could the basket of vegetables, overturned on the
ground, be the cause of this quarrel? Leaving this first, light-drenched scene behind,
the eye discerns in the background a man being supported by a woman as she helps him along.
Could he be drunk? For we are here at the entrance to a tavern, recognisable by
its sign and the two jugs hanging from the frame of a canvas awning. At the back of this
tavern, two other street vendors, having set down their baskets and hampers, are drinking
leaning on the bar. Finally, back on the street, we glimpse, on the right in the half-light,
a art dealer whom a young man is helping to secure the frames onto the hook of his
packing frame. The atmosphere is picturesque rather than theatrical. Everything is rendered with a
lively brushstroke that lingers on minute details; the palette of vivid colours with porcelain-like
hues lends these little scenes a cheerful and detached air. We observe, we are amused, we marvel
at the details. The light falls here and there on the groups, sequencing their discovery and
establishing a hierarchy in the order of their appearance.
Jean-Baptiste Charpentier the Elder (1728–1806) was a French portrait painter at the court of the
king, who became famous for his portraits of Marie-Antoinette and members of the
Penthièvre family. Although he began by painting genre scenes, he soon turned to
portraiture of the aristocracy, before returning to genre painting after the Revo-
lution. Admitted to the Académie de Saint-Luc in 1760, he became a professor there, then an adviser. After its
closure in 1777, he continued to exhibit at the Salon de la Correspondance of the Royal Academy
and became friends with Jean-Baptiste Greuze. When the French Revolution abolished the Royal
Academy, he exhibited at the Salon du Louvre from 1791 to 1799. His entry into the service of Louis-Jean-Marie
de Bourbon, Duke of Penthièvre, afforded him an enviable position, evidence of which remains in the large full-length portrait
of the Duke held at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rennes and two paintings of great refinement
held at the Palace of Versailles: *Portrait of the Prince and Princess Louise-Adélaïde
in a Garden* (Versailles) and *The Cup of Chocolate* (*The Family of the Duke of Penthièvre*), dated
1768. In addition to these princely portraits, the small genre paintings constitute the most delightful
part of Charpentier’s oeuvre. The painter became the chronicler of lively scenes populated by
small traders and children at play. His paintings, with their unpretentious titles, are always
constructed like small theatrical performances, as in this *Flower Seller
and Picture Seller in front of a stall*, which may well be the *Market Scene*
presented by Charpentier at the 1799 Salon (no. 40), of which all trace has been lost.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
You may also like