LAURENT DE LA HYRE | A) Allegory of Concorde B) Allegory of the Foi Publique

Collection particulière, Anvers ;
Acquis par échange en 1979.

Grenoble, musée des Beaux-Arts, Rennes, musée des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux, musée des Beaux-Arts, Laurent de La Hyre, 1606-1646. L'homme et l'oeuvre, 1989-90, n°302 et n°304, repr.;
Rennes, 2012, n°37b (notice par Pierre Rosenberg) ;
Sceaux, 2013 (sans catalogue)

P. Rosenberg et J. Thuillier, Laurent de la Hyre, 1606-1646. L'homme d'oeuvre, Genève, 1988, pp.320-321, n°302 et 304, repr. ;
Cat. vente, New-York, Christie's, 18 mai 1995, sous le n°53 ; 
Londres, Walpole Gallery, France in the Golden Age. Seventeenth century French paintings, 1996, n°25 repr.

Both sheets are laid down on the remains of an old mount. Both sheets remain in remarkably good condition, with only some very minor discoloration to the paper evident. The combination of media remains relatively fresh throughout with both images strong. Sold unframed.
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These two drawings, mounted together, are both fine examples of the economical and highly distinctive manner in which La Hyre drew, using the point of the brush and various shades of blue-grey wash. Similarly to lot 17 both drawings depict Allegories, the first of these being Concorde, in which the artist has portrayed a young woman dressed in a classical manner, donning a floral crown, whilst holding in her right hand a vessel surmounted by a heart, and in her left a torch, projecting a beam of light.

The second drawing portrays an Allegory of la Foi Publique (Public Trust), in which Fidelity leans on the altar of faith, carrying in her right hand her symbolic seal and key. To the left of Fidelity, seated with her left arm also resting on the altar of faith, is Security, who in her other hand holds a spear. The composition of La Hyre’s La Foi Publique is also known through a surviving painting¹ of the same subject, previously in the distinguished collection of Germain Seligman, before making its way via The William Rockhill Nelson Trust, onto the New York art market in 1995. As noted by Rosenberg and Thuillier,² the combination of figures and settings seems to allude strongly to Public Trust, which is, of course, the basis of any State, since only confidence in government and its institutions can assure trust and a sense of security.

Much like lot 17, the two drawings that comprise this lot have been dated by Rosenberg and Thuillier to the 1650s.³ It should, however, be noted that the 1989-90 catalogue describes the two drawings as executed in red chalk (‘sanguine’), and as originating from the Chennevières collection, neither of which is correct.

^1. Sale, New York, Christie's, 18 May 1995, lot 53

^2. Exhib. cat., op. cit., Grenoble et al., 1989-90, p. 321, under no. 303

^3. Ibid., p. 316