Offered by Galerie Gilles Linossier
Oil on canvas.
Portrait of a young woman in Allegory of Prudence.
She holds in her right hand a mirror (attributes Prudence) itself surrounded by a snake in its upper part.
Her high-quality costume, adorned with lace, gold embroidery and pearls on the belt and on the left arm, gives us the impression that this woman is a lady of high society. She wears a blue drape on which is hung a gold jewel, set with precious stones and ending with a large pearl.
The meticulousness of the face and the use of bright colors drawn from Italian art, which Antoine Pesne particularly appreciated, allow us to confirm the attribution of the work to this artist. Indeed, in 1705, he left Paris for Rome, then Naples, before staying in Venice. Befriending Andrea Celesti and seduced by the prestige of color, he studied the great Italian colorists, refining his skills as a colorist which earned him to be considered one of the best painters in this city.
One of Antoine Pesne's stylistic qualities is his ability to represent aristocrats in allegorical or mythological meanings, such is the case of our portrait.
The woman's hairstyle, known as "tapé", typical of the period, clears her face while bringing hair back along her left shoulder. It is embellished with a pink bow surmounted by a golden feather. Due to the shape of this hairstyle, we can date this painting around 1750.
Antoine Pesne is then the first painter of the King of Prussia, Frederick-William I, since the 1720s, then Frederick II retained his favors.
Antoine Pesne (1689-1757)
Son and pupil of the portraitist Thomas Pesne and nephew of the engraver Jean Pesne, he was placed by his father in the studio of his great-uncle, Charles de La Fosse.
After his stay in Italy, he became painter to the Court of Berlin following the realization of the portrait of Baron de Kniphausen which particularly pleased the King of Prussia, Frederick William I.
There followed an important execution of court portraits considered to be of great beauty.
The writer Jean-Baptiste Boyer d'Argens also said of this artist: "It is true that Pesne's portraits are superior to his history paintings: There is in his portraits, I dare say, a truer color than in those of Rigaud, a vigor which was very often lacking in those of Largillière, a nobility which one does not find in those of Rembrandt".
A career filled with success, Antoine Pesne also produced mythological and allegorical subjects always in a colorful Venetian taste.
This comforts us in the attribution of our very pretty portrait of Allegory of Prudence.
Museums and Prices
The Paintings of Pesne are mainly in German Palaces or Museums, such as the Castle of Charlottenburg, that of Rheinsberg or the Palace of Sanssouci.
But we also find several of his works in other countries, such as the Portrait of Jean Mariette which is exhibited at the Carnavalet museum, his Portrait of a German lord which is at the Museum of Fine Arts in Brest or even The portrait of Lord Keith presented at the Scottlish National Portrait Gallery, Scotland, and many others.
A very recognized artist still today, we can find several of his paintings for sale, including the following six:
The two portraits of his grandchildren sold in 2012
for the sum of 186,915 euros under lot 197 of the Christie's sale in London
Duke Friedrich of Schleswig Holstein Sonderburg Beck was estimated at between 214,000 and 321,000 euros in Sweden.
The very beautiful portrait of the painter Jean Baptiste Gayot Dubuisson,
estimated between 50,000 and 70,000 euros in Germany has similarities in execution with our Allegory.
The painter's right hand is placed like a mirror of the left hand of our portrait.
Both pointing the index downwards, the other fingers closing on the palm of the hand.
Moreover, the light work on the Dubuisson buttons and the cabinet work of the armchair are similar to the realization of the golden embroidery of our wife's dress and the details of her jewels.
These similarities in the position of the hand and the touches of paint on the costumes are also found in the painting mentioned above, of a German Lord, exhibited at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Brest.
Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia, later Margravine of Bayreuth (1709-1758) painted around 1725,
estimated at no less than 40,000 to 60,000 euros in Germany, also allows us to see similarities with our painting by the realization of the face, soft, round eyes, with an almost drawn line.
Finally, the portrait probably of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria was estimated between 40,000 and 50,000 euros.
The latter is similar to our painting from many angles.
Indeed, the Empress, the three-quarter head, also wears a "tapé" hairstyle. The delicacy of the faces is executed similarly to our painting. The features are fine, the fairly round eyes that emphasize the subject's gaze, the drapes and their lights are done in an equivalent way.
So, the background is very similar to that of our allegory. The trees are painted in the same shades and are sketched by the same quick and blurred stroke.
Dimensions : H 107 cm x W 85 cm
Dimensions with frame : H 134 cm x W 112 cm x D 9 cm
