The Commedia dell’ arte troupe around 1710

Beautiful oil on canvas representing the commedia dell’arte theater troupe.
The gallant scene takes place in the grounds of a castle, at the foot of an imposing stone base which supports a marble Medici vase.
The five actors are richly dressed, on the right Léandre is peacefully seated and observes Harlequin who tries to charm his Columbine, while his lover, Isabelle, is turned towards Pierrot, who seems to invite her to dance with gestures of the hand.
In the center, perched on an edge of the base, a very beautiful Scarlet Macaw parrot contemplates the scene; while in the background, a loving couple walks near the jet of water from a fountain.

Oil on canvas.

Gilded wooden frame decorated with foliage on a checkered background finely engraved in the finishes.

Very good state of conservation.

Our painting is probably an early work by Jean Baptiste Oudry when he was still a student in the workshop of Nicolas de Largillière around 1710.


Dimensions:

Canvas: Height: 65 cm; Width: 82 cm

Frame :




Related works:

-Museum of Fine Arts of Bordeaux, Inv No. BX 2007.11
-Boston Museum of Fine arts, Inv No. 19.1369
-Artcurial Paris sale, November 18, 2020, lot 83 (143,000 euros)

Bibliography:

Hal Opperman and Pierre Rosenberg, catalog of the J.-B. Oudry exhibition, 1686-1755, Paris, Grand Palais

Our opinion :

The composition of our canvas is known from a reverse engraving probably published by Pierre Quentin Chedel in the middle of the 18th century.
The scene and format correspond perfectly to a painting from the list proposed by Jean Baptiste Oudry to the King of Sweden in 1735: “A painting of several figures in a garden dressed in the style of Italian theater, 2 and a half feet wide by 2 feet high", which tells us that our painter still kept at that time a version for which he asked the significant price of 600 pounds.
The painting we are presenting was formerly considered an autograph painting by Jean Baptiste Oudry, just like the one kept at the Bordeaux museum which was authenticated by Hal Opperman before being declassified in favor of the version put on sale at Artcurial, which is the only one signed and dated. (1719)
The three versions are extremely close and of identical dimensions, we must admit that the signed version is the most accomplished in terms of the faces but this does not mean we can reject the other two paintings.
In fact, this is not a commission for a royal hunt intended for Versailles, which would have been taken up in unison by an important workshop, but an atypical early work, by a painter who did not yet successful and probably doesn't yet have a follower.
This work remains unique in the corpus of Jean Baptiste Oudry and we see it rather as an exercise dating from his period where he studied painting with Nicolas de Largillière, between 1705 and 1712.
What better exercise than this, which combines the art of portraiture, the complexity of draping with different textures and an immense palette of colors, with five characters, two of whom are in motion, with two animals, one of which has feathers and the other has hair, with an architectural view, a background and a sunny sky…
We must salute the composition which is wonderfully balanced, even though the majority of the characters are positioned on the same side.
This work was probably the result of significant research for Oudry and it is probably for this reason that he kept a version throughout his life.
Given the quality of the drapes and especially the representation of the animals, we believe that the two other canvases in the format are also autograph works of his youth.
We know that from the first days, Nicolas de Largillière was amazed by the quality of the animals created by his young apprentice to the point of advising him to specialize in this type of subject, where he excelled.
The quality of our parrot perfectly reflects its technique and cannot be the result of a secondary painter.
Generally on studio works the backgrounds are simplified, but we can observe details on our canvas that do not appear on the 1719 version, such as the crenellations on the parrot's tail feathers or certain cracks in the base or even a break which is clearly visible on our copy and barely outlined on the other versions; just like the scene present on the vases or the decoration of the pedestal which are largely accentuated.
A workshop does the exact opposite and does not enrich the works of a master. Besides, what follower could claim to improve a bird painted by Oudry?
We see it rather as the work of a young painter who gives a lot of importance to details in his first verse.