Giovanni Boldini

William Henry Vanderbilt, New York (from 1879)
George Washington Vanderbilt II, New York (by descent from the above, his father)
Brigadier General Cornelius Vanderbilt, New York (by descent from the above, his uncle; and sold: Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, April 18-19, 1945, lot 126, illustrated)
Millicent Rogers, New York and Taos (until 1953)
Thence by descent to the present owner

New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, circa 1902-1914 (on loan from George W. Vanderbilt II)
New York, Adelson Galleries, Inaugural Exhibition, One Hundred Years of American and European Art, November 1-December 15, 1990, no. 6 (as Les Parisennes)

The Private Collection of W. H. Vanderbilt, New York, 1879, p. 28, no. 72
W. H. Vanderbilt's Collection of Paintings, 640 Fifth Avenue, (Entrance to the Galleries, No. 1. West 51st Street), New York, New York, 1883, p. 1, no. 8
Edward Strahan, Mr. Vanderbilt's House and Collection, New York, circa 1883-84, vol. 4, pp. 12, 13
Collection of W. H. Vanderbilt, New York, 1884, p. 10, no. 8
Edward Strahan, ed., The Art Treasures of America, Philadelphia, 1879, vol. II, p. 114, in the 1977 facsimile edition, vol. III, p. 108
Catalogue of the Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1905, p. 200 (Gallery 16, no. 4)
David Charles Preyer, The Art of the Metropolitan Museum of New York, Boston, 1909, p. 111
Bryson Burroughs, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Catalogue of the Paintings, New York, 1914, p. 19 (B632-3, Gallery 16)

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This painting on a mahogany panel is in beautiful condition. The panel is un-broken. The paint layer is stable and has been recently cleaned and varnished. There are a few retouches on the extreme lower right edge in the parquet floor, where this area was slightly worn. In the remainder of the picture, despite numerous faintly visible pentimenti and changes, there are no retouches. This is clearly a picture in beautiful condition, showing Boldini's marvelous technique to its best advantage.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Ladies of the First Empire belongs to a series of small scale, intricately detailed paintings completed soon after Boldini's visit to Versailles in May of 1875 (Piero Dini and Francesca Dini, Giovanni Boldini 1842-1931, Catalogo Ragionato, Turin, 2002, vol. I, p. 157). Enamored by the extravagant palace with its overwhelming architecture and rococo decoration, Boldini rented a house nearby, eager to work "from reality" on a series of eighteenth-century subjects. The expansive, manicured grounds and Versailles' seemingly endless number of fantastically appointed chambers provided infinite settings for the artist's courtly costume dramas played out by a large cast of noble figures, or in more intimate scenes such as the present work. Barbara Guidi writes: "In these paintings, with rococo atmosphere, suspended between a dream and an image of modern life, the models ? almost always the blonde Berthe, Boldini's lover ? sometimes appear dressed in period costume" (Barbara Guidi, "Arrival in Paris and the Search for Success," Giovanni Boldini in Impressionist Paris, Ferrara Arte S.p.A. and Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 2009, p. 96). Here two beautiful, elegantly-dressed young women appear to be casually passing the afternoon, one writing letters at a guéridon ? her rejected notes lying conspicuously on the floor beside her ? and the other slouched against a vibrant red satin pillow in a gilt and white painted armchair, studying her needlework. A Napoleon III Empire revival settee, upholstered to match the armchairs, completes the setting.

The narrative and aesthetic appeal of Ladies of the First Empire is immediately evident, and contemporary critics could not help but use equally florid language to describe such works. In his Art Treasures of America, Edward Strahan noted that Mrs. A. T. Stewart's Boldini painting The Park of Versailles in the Eighteenth Century was replete with "gallants making a leg to fine ladies in sedan chairs... the décolleté necks and pinchable little arms of these microscopic puppets show great mastery in flesh painting of the snuff box-lid scale" (fascimile edition, New York, 1977, vol. 1, p. 37). In Ladies of the First Empire the elongated, sinuous form of the woman in pink is particularly compelling; the artist even takes care to render the soft musculature of her back peeking above her off-the-shoulder dress.

Boldini's move to Paris in 1871 coincided with a series of decisions that would propel him onto an international stage and prompt the exodus of many of his important paintings, such as Ladies of the First Empire, to prestigious private collections in America. Within a month of arriving in the French capital, Boldini switched dealers, from Reilinger to Adolphe Goupil, and ceased exhibiting in public venues, intent on only producing art to be consumed by the buying public. Wealthy Americans in particular were building ambitious collections with tremendous speed and resources, and Boldini was connected to them through a network of influential dealers such as Goupil, Samuel Putnam Avery, Knoedler & Co., and George A. Lucas. Works such as Ladies of the First Empire were precisely what such American collectors desired. Barbara Guidi writes: "These modern tableaux vivant pictures enjoyed enormous success because, as the artist Francesco Netti acutely observed: 'the wealthy bourgeoisie discovered themselves in these works...It was their portrait, their apotheosis'"(p. 96). Ladies of the First Empire was acquired by William Henry Vanderbilt who built a vast collection during his lifetime, totaling over 200 paintings, which he housed in his palatial Fifth Avenue mansion. The painting next entered into the collection of George Washington Vanderbilt II, William Henry's youngest child and allegedly his favorite and constant companion. George Vanderbilt is perhaps best known for the 125,000 acre estate he built in North Carolina called The Biltmore modeled after the great French Chateaux of the Loire Valley.