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Dimensions: measurements note 81.4 by 65 cm.; 32 by 25 1/2 in.
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Provenance: Probably painted for Blondel de Gagny, Trésorier general de la Caisse de Amortisements, and certainly in his collection in Place de Louis-le-Grand, by 1770;
His deceased sale, Paris, Remy, 10-24 December 1776, where acquired by le Prince de Conti for 432 livres;
Prince de Conti, Grand Prieur de France;
His deceased sale, Paris, Remy, 8 April 1777, for 680 livres;
Probably J.J.M.X. Duché, Montpellier;
Probably his sale, September 1802, lot 43;
Le Duc de Talleyrand-Valençay et Sagan, Château de Valençay;
His deceased sale, Paris, Béguin et al., 29 May 1899, for 920 francs to Keller;
Anonymous sale, Paris, Drouot, 15 June 1979;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 11 December 1981, lot 101;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 19 April 1985, lot 103, where acquired by the present owner.
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Literature: A.N. Dezallier d'Argenville, 1770, where it is catalogued as in the collection of M. Gagny, Place de Louis-le-Grand "dans une pièce ayant vue sur la Place";
Catalogue d'une riche collection de tableaux... qui composent le cabinet de feu Son Altesse Serénissime Mgr. le Prince de Conti, 1777, p. 200, no. 733;
H. Cozic, "Vien. Sa vie et son oeuvre", in Revue de France, 1865, p. 193;
E. Roy, "Vien et son temps", in Revue du XIXe siècle, 1 October 1866, p. 92;
L. de La Rocque, Bibliographie Montpelliérenne. Peintres, sculpteurs et architectes, Montpellier 1877, p. 52;
Catalogue des tableaux anciens... dépendant de la sucesión du Duc de Talleyrand... provenant du château de Valencia, 1899, p. 14, no. 27;
H. Mireur, Dictionnaire des Ventes d'Art, Paris 1912, pp. 368-69;
T.W. Gaehtgens, J. Lugand, Joseph-Marie Vien, Paris 1988, p. 163, no. 148, reproduced fig. 148.
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Notes: PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION
Vien began his career in the studio of Charles-Joseph Natoire in 1740 and, after winning the Prix de Rome in 1743, went to study at the Académie de France in Rome until 1750. History and religious painting dominated these years but after 1750, with his return to France, Vien adopted a growing interest in the Baroque and, in particular, the work of early 17υth century Bolognese painters such as Guido Reni, whose interest in nature and the antique he shared. Encouraged by the existing taste in the 1760s for charming, undemanding antique subjects, for a few years Vien produced a number of works à la grecque that seem to reject the formal classicising works of his past and instead project a poetic expressiveness, a delicacy and a simplicity which mirror the work of such artists as Jean-Baptiste Greuze. During this time, Vien frequented many private Salons, notably that of the famed Mme. Geoffrin who, on a weekly basis, received the great connoisseurs and collectors of the day, including the Comte de Caylus and le Duc d'Orleans. It was presumably in one such salon circa 1760 that the financier and collector Blondel de Gagny encountered Vien and commissioned the present work. In 1770 Dezallier d'Argenville records the painting as hanging in a room overlooking the square in Blondel De Gagny's house in Place Louis-le-Grand.υ1 For Mme. Geoffrin herself, Vien executed at least four works similar to this of which his La Douce Melancolie is, in its subject matter, delicacy and execution, perhaps most similar to the present work.υ2 In both works the model is probably Mme. Vien and indeed both works share the distinction of having been part of the illustrious collection of the Prince de Conti, before they were sold at his deceased sale in 1777.υ3
1. See under Literature.
2. Gaeghtens, under Literature, pp. 161-2, no. 141, reproduced cover and fig. 141.
3. See under Provenance.
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