- 100
Circle of François Boucher
Description
- François Boucher
- an allegory of a french royal marriage, with figures of time, justice and peace
- drawn with the brush and brown wash, heightened with white and beige gouache, on light blue paper
Provenance
Loys Delteil (1869-1927);
his widow's sale, Paris 21 February 1935 (presumably as Paolo Veronese);
A. Tardieu (L.183b);
N. Dhikeos (bears his collector's mark, not in Lugt);
purchased, London, Christie's, 2 July 1996, lot 248 (as Attributed to Jean-Baptiste Deshays)
Catalogue Note
We are grateful to Alastair Laing for his suggestion the subject of this allegorical scene could represent a french royal marriage. The figure of Hymen (?) is seen bringing together two medallions, one of which appears to bear a portrait, and the Fleur-de-Lys on the central globe apparently indicates the French nature of the union. Alastair Laing suggests furthermore that the marriage might be that of the Dauphin and Maria Theresa of Spain (represented by the lion with which two cupids are playing in the foreground) in 1745. He adds that no allegory of this event was displayed in that year, nor in 1746, which might be explained by the fact that the Dauphine died in childbirth shortly into the marriage.