François-André Vincent

Henri Rouart (1833–1912);

His posthumous sale, Paris, Galerie Manzi-Joyant, 11 December 1912, lot 77, for 1,600 francs to Rouart;

Acquired by one of his sons, Ernest Rouart (1874–1942) or Louis Rouart (1875–1964);

Thence by family descent until sold;

Anonymous sale, Paris, Palais d'Orsay, 23 June 1978, lot 44;

Acquired in 1990.

A. Alexandre, La collection Henri Rouart, Paris 1912, p. 65, no. 77;

J.-P. Cuzin and I. Mayer-Michalon, François-André Vincent 1746–1816 entre Fragonard et David, Paris 2013, p. 310, no. I.18, reproduced (identified as 'Vincent ?').

François-André Vincent was a direct rival of Jacques-Louis David as one of the leading neoclassical artists of the late 18th century and the years before the French Revolution. In 1795 he served as a founding member of the Institut de France, and taught at the Collège de France. Many of his paintings were devoted to historical subjects, but he also made numerous portraits of notable figures of the day. This work presents a rather intimate, informal portrait of the artist himself.

Although the likeness of the sitter bears a striking resemblance to Vincent and he is depicted holding a palette and brush, Cuzin (see Literature) expresses a degree of doubt as to his identity, based on the 'gentlemanly' bearing of the model, which he believes diverges from that of a painter. As a self-portrait of the artist, it is his last – dating to circa 1810; his most famous and iconic self-portrait dates to 1775, on the left-hand side of the Triple Portrait with the architect Pierre Rousseau and the artist Coclers Van Wyck (Musée du Louvre, Paris).¹

Henri Rouart (1833–1912) (see Provenance) was a French engineer, industrialist, artist and collector, mainly of Impressionist paintings, including works by Berthe Morisot, Toulouse-Lautrec, Renoir, and Degas, an old friend of his. He was a student himself of Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot and Jean-François Millet. The sale of his collection in 1912 was a seminal event in auction history, defining the market for Impressionist works in particular.

¹ https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010061290