Jean-Baptiste Greuze (French, 1725-1805) Portrait of a Young Man

Description:

Jean-Baptiste Greuze (French, 1725-1805)

Portrait of a Young Man
Unsigned, identified on a label affixed to the stretcher.
Oil on canvas, 18 3/16 x 15 in. (46.3 x 38.0 cm),in a period frame.
Condition: Lined, scattered retouch, craquelure.

Provenance: Ex-collection Stanley Newbold Barbee, Los Angeles, purchased from Felix Goulêd, New York, November 11, 1937 (a copy of the receipt from Felix Goulêd accompanies the lot),then by descent to the present owner.

N.B. The painting at hand has been examined in person by Dr. Edgar Munhall. It is his opinion that the Portrait of a Young Man was painted by Jean-Baptiste Greuze sometime around 1800. A copy of Dr. Munhall's written report, including comparable images, is available for inspection and will accompany the lot.

Born in Tournus, Greuze moved to Paris in 1750, where he studied at the School of the Royal Academy and achieved success with genre painting. He was named an Associate member of the Academy in the category of genre painting in 1755. He received commissions from Mme. de Pompadour and was praised by Diderot for works that endowed art with morality. Like so many artists of the era, Greuze aspired to paint historical subjects, but did not find the reception for these that he had hoped. The refusal of the Academy to accept him as a history painter led him to withdraw from the Salon for thirty years. He continued successfully to paint portraits and figural works with great sensitivity and finesse.

In his report, Dr. Munhall writes, "During and after the French Revolution, there was little demand for the serious genre pictures that had been Greuze's forte throughout most of his career. He therefore turned to portraits, a genre at which he had excelled from his earliest days. Revolutionary figures, lawyers, nouveaux-riches figures of society, even the young Napoleon Buonaparte sat to him, and though by now in his mid-seventies, the artist was showing no signs of diminishing talents." Commenting on the attire of the sitter, Dr. Munhall continues, "Such a British-inspired ensemble appeared in a number of Greuze's male portraits around 1800..."

The painting is mounted in an 18th-century frame which is listed in the original 1937 receipt from Felix Goulêd. The frame shows subtle signs of having been re-fashioned at some point to accommodate the portrait.


Estimate $40,000-60,000

The painting was conserved by Jim Wright in December, 2011. Surface cleaned, old overpaint removed, repair to one-inch hole in the hair of the sitter, located 2-1/2 inches down from the center top. Retouch to minor losses, including old repair in hair about 1 inch in diameter, one small dot to proper right forehead measuring 1/4 inch diameter, and scattered very fine dots to face and collar. Revarnished with MS2A.

In his condition report, Mr. Wright states, "The painting is in very good condition. It is glue/paste lined, and there is a repaired one-inch hole in the hair of the sitter. The surface is in excellent condition for this artist, with glazes intact displaying very minor wear. There are a few age cracks."

A copy of the Condition Report from Jim Wright is available for inspection.

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