Jean François de Troy

Count Thure Bonde, Sweden;

By whom sold ('The Property of Count Thure Bonde'), London, Sotheby's, 24 November 1971, lot 16;

Offered anonymously, Monaco, Sotheby's, 7 December 1990, lot 48;

Acquired shortly thereafter by the father of the present owner;

Thence by descent. 

C. Leribault, Jean-François de Troy, 1679–1752, Paris 2002, p. 323, no. P204 (as signed DETROY);

F. Petrucci, Pittura di Ritratto a Roma. Il Settecento, Rome 2010, vol. I, p. 359, reproduced fig. 263, vol. III, p. 932, no. 1409, reproduced.

This exquisite portrait by Jean-François de Troy depicts an elegantly attired lady in a sumptuous gold dress, seated in an upholstered fauteuil against a lush garden setting, where a carved fountain subtly shimmers in the background. Her poised fingers rest delicately on a lacquered hurdy-gurdy, ornamented with what appears to be ivory and mother of pearl inlays. On her wrist, a small bracelet with a delicately painted medallion depicts a male portrait, possibly her lover or betrothed.

Painted at the height of De Troy’s career, Christophe Leribault dates this picture to the early 1730s, noting that the likeness, coiffure and dress of the sitter are nearly identical to those found in one of the figures in his celebrated The Reading from Molière (La Lecture de Molière), also dating to the same period.¹ He further notes the present work offers a ‘compromis sédiusant’ (an ‘attractive compromise’) between the elements of traditional portraiture and De Troy's revered small-scale genre scenes, traditionally known as ‘tableaux de mode’ (‘fashionable pictures’).²

The hurdy-gurdy, known as Vielle à roue in French, is a fascinating stringed instrument whose history dates back to around the 12^th century. Originally popular in rural folk traditions across Europe, the hurdy-gurdy was adopted by the French court in the 17^th and 18^th centuries, where it became a symbol of pastoral elegance and sophistication, appearing in a number of fashionable portraits of the period by figures such as Alexis Grimou (1678–1733),³ and Francois Boucher (1703–1770).⁴

¹ Private collection, England; oil on canvas; 74 x 93 cm.; https://www.meisterdrucke.uk/fine-art-prints/Jean-Fran%C3%A7ois-de-Troy/154767/The-Reading-from-Moliere.html

² Leribault 2002, p. 323, no. P204, reproduced.

³ Oil on canvas; 128.5 x 98.3 cm.; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Antoine_Coypel_-_Portrait_of_a_woman_playing_a_hurdy_gurdy.jpg

⁴ Oil on canvas; 39.5 x 32 cm.; https://www.daguerre.fr/en/lot/104613/12709543