Lot 666: HENRI-JOSEPH VAN BLARENBERGHE

HENRI-JOSEPH VAN BLARENBERGHE LILLE 1741-1826 TWO VIEWS OF THE CHATEAU DE BERCY, PARIS Quantity: 2 Both gouache; signed and dated: van Blarenberghe 1778 and van Blarenberghe 1779 Each diameter 70 mm; 2 3/4 in (sight)

Paris, 1866

Mantz, 'Miniaturistes du XVIIIe siècle,' Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1866;
S. Grandjean, Catalogue des tabatières, boîtes et étuis des XVIIIème et XIXème siècle du Louvre, Paris 1981, p. 190;
M. Maillet-Chassagne and I. de Château-Thierry, Catalogue raisonné des oeuvres des Van Blarenberghe 1680-1826, Lille 2004, pp. 403-4, cat. 4 - 613 - 6 and 7

Baron Roger, 1843;
Demidoff Collection, sale 1863;
Delahante Collection;
Duwen Collection;
Th. Piétri, sale, paris, 4-5 March 1901, lot 49;
L. Lowenstein,
his sale, Paris, Galerie Charpentier, 17 December 1935, lot 133;
R. Esmerian

These two exquisite small gouaches depict the same Paris building, but from different viewpoints; one view is taken from the Arsenal, the other from the Berge de Bercy. The building, designed by Le Vau, was constructed a little before 1771, on the instructions of the Duc de Choiseul, and adjoined another building known as the pavilion or baths of the Duchesse du Maine. The gouaches must have been made as miniatures to decorate the lids of gold boxes, a particular speciality of the Blarenberghe family.