Lancelot Théodore Turpin de Crissé

Newhouse Galleries, New York, by whom sold to;
Mr. and Mrs. F. Howard Walsh, Fort Worth, Texas;
Walsh Family Art Trust until 2006..

Probably Paris, Galerie Lebrun, Exposition des artistes français au profit des Grecs, 1826, cat. no. 171.

Canvas relined. Overall picture presents a lovely image with beautiful retention of paint surface, coloration and detail. U.V. reveals two miniscule retouches in sky just above highest mountain peak, a few tiny retouches in the mountains, and some tiny retouches here and there in the buildings, especially in the building at far right. There is one small retouch in the water just to the right of the building and above the white rail, perhaps made to repair a small loss. All of these retouches have been applied well, and no further work is recommended. Painting should be hung in present state. In a carved and gilt wood frame with minor abrasion to gilding.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Born into an aristocratic family from Anjou, Lancelot-Théodore Turpin de Crissé was taught to paint by his father, an amateur artist who was himself a student of Hubert Robert.  At the outset of the Revolution, Turpin's father fled to America, and by 1802, the young artist was under the care of the Comte de Choiseul-Gouffier, who sent him to Switzerland from 1802-1803, and then to Italy 1807-08.  Turpin exhibited at the Paris Salon for the first time in 1806 and would continue to exhibit there until 1835.

One of Turpin de Crissé's most important patrons was the Empress Josephine.  At the Salon of 1808, she purchased Turpin's View from Civita Castellana. In 1809, he became Chamberlain to the Empress, and in 1810, he travelled with her to Switzerland and to Savoy.  On that trip, Turpin made an album of thirty sepia drawings, Album de Voyage de l'impératrice Joséphine en Suisse et en Savoie, now in the Musée national du château de Malmaison et de Bois-Préau, and he also painted View of Sion, in the Valais, now in the Bilbiotèque Marmottan (inv. no. BM 5).

It was most likely on his second tour of Switzerland with the Empress that Turpin painted this View of Lake Lugano with Santa Maria Degli Angeli and Mont San Giorgio.  Lugano, in the Swiss canton of Ticino, lies just to the east of Valais, where Turpin painted his aforementioned View of Sion.  The Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, whose roofs are visible at left, houses the famous late frescoes by Bernardo Luini – The Crucifixion, Last Supper and Madonna and Child.  The latter, dated 1530, is one of the last surviving works by Luini. 

The treatment in the present composition of the background landscape, with the majestic silhouette of Mont San Giorgio, reveals the influence that the work of Jean-Joseph-Xavier Bidauld had on the style of Turpin de Crissé.  Whereas the subtle colorations, as seen in the reds and oranges of the roofs, and in the grey- and sea-greens of the mountains and lake, in addition to the atmospheric lighting, is entirely the invention of Turpin.