Charles-Joseph Natoire

Painted by the artist as his morceau de reception (reception piece) for the Accademia di San Luca, Rome, 1753 (as la pittura che disegna sul consiglio della poesia);

Accademia di San Luca, Rome, until at least 1834 (Inventario 1729 (with later additions), inv. no. 55; 1831, inv. no. 28; and 1834, inv. no. 193);

Anonymous sale, Paris, Hotel Drouot, 20 November 1929, lot 79;

Anonymous sale, Paris, Hotel Drouot, 23 June 1930, lot 39;

Anonymous sale, Paris, Hotel Drouot, 3 December 1963, lot 48;

With Zangrilli, Brady & Co., Ltd., New York (according to a label on the reverse);

Anonymous sale ("Property of a Lady"), New York, Sotheby’s, 21 May 1998, lot 214A;

Where acquired by the present collector.

F. Boyer, “Catalogue raisonné de l’Oeuvre de Charles Natoire,” in Archives de l’Art francais 21 (1949), p. 72, cat. no. 307;

O. Michel, "Un portrait inédit de Charles Natoire," in Bollettino dei musei comunali di Roma (1984), p. 143;

S. Caviglia-Brunel, Charles-Joseph Natoire (1700-1777), Paris 2012, pp. 143, 383, cat. no. P220, reproduced.

By 1752, Charles-Joseph Natoire had already won the Prix de Rome, earned numerous royal and noble commissions, and established his reputation as a painter in Paris. At the height of his career, he was appointed Director of the Académie de France in Rome in 1751, and remained in Italy for the rest of his life. Along with his prestigious directorship, Natoire was appointed the position of academico di merito at the Accademia di San Luca, whose regulations required newly appointed members to offer a work for their permanent collection. The present painting served as the artist’s morceau de reception and was subsequently listed in three handwritten inventories of the Accademia’s collections: the inventories of 1729 (as a later addition), 1831, and 1834.¹ A preparatory drawing (location unknown) for this painting bears the artist’s signature and an inscription: pour sa réception à l’acad.ie de St Luca a Rome.²

¹ Described as "La Pittura che disegna sul consiglio della poesia," in Rome, Archivio dell'Accademia nazionale di San Luca, Inventario 1729, no. 55; 1831, no. 28; and 1834, no. 193.

² Formerly in the Baderou collection, see Caviglia-Brunel 2012, p. 383, cat. no. D485, reproduced.