Jacques-André Portail

Laid down on a card support. The extremities of the sheet are slightly abraded and there is a band of discoloration circa 1cm wide around the four edges, as a result of an old acidic mount, which has since been removed. The sheet itself has slightly yellowed and there are some smaller light brown stains and areas of foxing to the sheet, though none of these appear on the sitters face. There are also a number of minor surface abrasions to the sheet, most notably in a small portion of the sitter's hair and above her right shoulder and on her left arm. The chalk medium itself remains in predominantly fine condition, with very little sign of rubbing or loss of pigment and the overall image remains strong throughout this highly attractive sheet.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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The present work, delicately executed in a combination of red and black chalk and gray-black wash, is a fascinating, recent discovery of a previously unpublished drawing by the French 18^th-century artist, Jacques-André Portail.

Portail began his career as an architect, in his native Brittany, and only came to Paris in middle age, to take up a post as superintendant of the King's pictures, at Versailles.  His career, particularly from the point of his arrival in Paris, circa 1640, is well documented in Xavier Salmon’s 1996 publication on the artist, from which it becomes clear that despite his lack of a formal Academy training, the elegance and technical skill achieved in his drawings made Portail’s work eminently fashionable among contemporary collectors and members of the French court alike.¹ His use of red and black chalk, sometimes, as in the case of the present work, with wash, and his very precise handling, which often attains an almost porcelain-like finish, combine to create a unique and instantly recognizable style, which continues to be lauded by collectors today.

The present drawing fits very securely into the artist’s graphic oeuvre, with the aforementioned medium and technique utterly consistent with a number of the artist’s most coveted works.  The sitter, currently unidentifiable by name, appears, based on a strong facial resemblance, to be the same woman to feature in at least three other drawings by Portail.  Two of these comparable sheets depict the young lady reading, the first of which is in a private collection, Paris,² while the second appeared on the Parisian art market in 2004.³  Though the comparisons to be made between the present work and these two drawings is undeniably strong, both in terms of their handling as well as the appearance of the sitter, there is a further drawing, sold in these rooms in 1988, that resembles it even more closely.⁴  Much like our drawing the female sitter is portrayed seated at a desk, and viewed in profile to the right, whilst writing a letter and surrounded by the various accoutrements that such as task might require, including an ink pot, feather quill and sealing stamp.  The key difference between the two works lies in the subtle compositional change that Portail has introduced with regard to the positioning of the sitter's left arm, which in the present work is upright, her head gently resting on it, in contrast to the comparable drawing in which the same arm is seen resting on the table, coddled in a fur muff.

The existence of these two closely comparable works would suggest that this was a composition and subject that Portail (or indeed one of his patrons) particularly admired, clearly deeming it to be of sufficient quality to warrant producing an alternative version.  The high level of finish found in both works does, however, make it impossible to determine which version came first -- and, indeed, irrelevant, given the exquisite quality of both of these outstanding, rare drawings. 

^1. X. Salmon, Jacques-André Portail, Cahier du Dessin Français no. 10, Paris 1996, pp. 5-11

^2. Ibid., p. 17, no. 14, reproduced p. 38

^3. Ibid., p. 16, no. 13, reproduced p. 39

^4. See sale, London, Sotheby’s, 4 July 1988, lot 75