Jean-Baptiste ISABEY Nancy, 1767 - 1855, Paris

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Lot n° 64
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Result : 32 500EUR
Jean-Baptiste ISABEY Nancy, 1767 - 1855, Paris
The lady with a muff Presumed portrait of Lucile Desmoulins (1770 - 1794) Charcoal and white gouache highlights 29.8 x 22.6 cm Lady with a muff Presumed portrait of Lucile Desmoulins (1770 - 1794) Charcoal heightened with white 11 3/4 x 8 7/8 in. PROVENANCE From the Feuillet de Borsat collection, bearing the stamp of the Maurice Feuillet collection (1873 - 1968) at the bottom right (Lugt.1864). BIBLIOGRAPHY E. BASILY-CALLIMAKI, Jean-Baptiste Isabey. Sa vie, son temps, 1767-1855, Paris, Frazier-Soye, 1909, p. 8 (ill.). In 1789, Jean-Baptiste Isabey had been in the studio of Jacques-Louis David (1748 - 1825) for three years after beginning his training in Nancy. He had already won a series of small competitions at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, where he studied in parallel, demonstrating a thorough knowledge of anatomy and a certain ability to deal with reality. When his father died during these years in the studio, he found himself in a delicate financial situation. At that time, he turned to the production of miniatures and worked on the decoration of small snuffboxes to feed himself. There he further developed his acuity for the fine representation of his models' features, becoming a talented portraitist who soon met with immense success and carried him well beyond the revolutionary troubles. In our drawing, all the art of the young portraitist is there. Influenced by his master David, we find the partly blocked background, the fine and precise lines, a form of vibration. He handles his materials with skill, giving life to the young woman whom he enhances with punctual touches of white on the lower rim of the eye, at the corner of the nose, at the corners of the lips made brilliant by a final touch on the lower part. In this way, he brightens up the clothes and plays with the textures of the fine fabrics that he makes shiny, of the matte, fluffy fur muff, a warm refuge for the model's hands. With its expressive subtlety and compositional finesse, Lady with a Muff announces the growing virtuosity of the artist, who would excel in the portrait genre. The Musée Cognacq-Jay now holds a miniature that exactly reproduces our model and her pose (Fig. 1). Alternately attributed to Joseph- Siffred Duplessis (1725 - 1802) then to his daughter Lucile Duplessis (1770/1794), future wife of Camille Desmoulins, the very idea that she was the model was put forward. Too far from the known portraits of Lucile, the idea was quickly abandoned and the attribution of the miniature goes today to Louis-Léopold Boilly (1761 - 1845). It is also interesting to note that our drawing passed through the Feuillet de Borsat collection, named after Borsat collection, named after Maurice Feuillet (1873 - 1968) and Pauline de Borsat, great benefactors of the city of Marseille to which they bequeathed an important part of their collection, which is visible today in the Museum of Decorative Arts, Earthenware and Fashion.
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