Louis-Léopold Boilly

Charles Wilmers Esq., 11 Connaught Square, London;
His deceased sale (Sold by Order of the Executors), London, Christie's, 12 March 1948, lot 40;
Where acquired for £2,600 by C. Duits;
Mr. and Mrs. Hugh F. Packenham Borthwick Norton;
Thence by descent to Mrs. Eva Sardinia Borthwick Norton (d. 1988), of Southwick House, Purbrook, Hampshire, by 1952;
Bequethed by her Executors to The Royal Scottish Academy in 1990;
By whom sold (The Property of The Royal Scottish Academy sold to establish The Borthwick-Norton Bequest), London, Sotheby's, 7 July 2005, lot 196 (incorrectly described as being indistinctly signed lower left, where the floor meets the curtain);
Where acquired by the present owners.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting has an old glue lining but the surface has been recently restored and in its current frame, the painting should be hung as is. Under ultraviolet light the background, the floor and almost all of the still life and furniture on the right side of the painting have received numerous yet very careful and accurate retouches. These retouches address abrasions to the paint layer but no actual structural damages or physical paint loss. The figure of the woman, the chair on which she is sitting and her dog however are in very good state. Although the condition is very uneven in places, the background particularly, this does not impact the appreciation of the work as a whole.
"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."

From the 1780s onwards, after he had settled in Paris, Boilly painted an increasing number of small scale cabinet paintings.  These paintings, which were extremely popular with his contemporary Parisians, combined moralising, amorous and sentimental elements with a meticulous technique reminiscent of 17th century Dutch artists such as Gerard ter Borch and Pieter de Hooch.  As is evident here, Boilly often balanced the gentle sentimentality of his genre scenes with an undercurrent of innuendo or eroticism.  On first glance, the artist appears to have depicted a beautiful and charming young woman in a white dress seated innocently at her desk; however, closer inspection soon reveals that this lady has secrets of her own.  The canvas that hangs above her desk has been turned around to face the wall so that its subject cannot be seen; the cupid statue and small lap dog who seems to offer the girl a flute or musical instrument are symbols of love; and the blue-ribboned guitar propped up against her desk again recalls the intimate, romantic musical companies of Boilly's seventeenth century Dutch predecessors.  To further pique curiosity, the woman points, with a slightly coy smile, to the open desk drawer, inciting speculation into what its contents could be.  Less subtle allusions to the love affairs and trysts of the upper classes can be found in the pair of paintings at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasedena (Interrupted Supper, inv. nos. M.1967.23.1.P and 2.P) and in La Visite reçue, Musée Sandelin, Saint-Omer (see Louis Boilly, 1761-1845, exh. cat. Musée Marmottan, Paris 984, p. 26, no. 2.). 

When this work was last sold in 2005, both Etienne Bréton and Pascal Zuber confirmed the attribution to Boilly on the basis of transparencies and also confirmed that it will be included in their forthcoming catalogue raisonné on the artist.