Lot 228: JOSEPH HEIGEL (1780-1837)

A fine pair of miniatures of the Reiset family: The Comte de Reiset and his eldest son; the Comte, in black jacket and trousers, purple and blue waistcoat, white shirt and cravat, wearing spectacles, his grey hair combed forwards, seated in a green upholstered chair, leaning on a gilt-wood table with ink-well, open manuscripts and salt cellar, his left arm around his son, holding a drawing in both hands, wearing a blue velvet suit with high lace ruff, short blonde hair; interior background; and the Comtesse de Reiset and her younger son seated below a tree; the Comtesse facing left in white dress with deep frilled border and diaphanous sleeves, a portrait miniature of two of her children worn as a bracelet, magnifying glass attached to a large gold chain tucked into a flowing large pink silk sash, large black hat with white plume in her curling brown hair, holding a book in her left hand and her right arm around her son in green velvet suit with large frilled collar, long curling blonde hair, a blue/purple velvet hat beside him; foliate background signed 'Heigel' (lower right) and 'Heigel f:' (mid-right), respectively rectangular, 43/4 x 6 7/16 in. (122 x 164 mm.) and 4 15/16 x 61/2 in. (125 x 167 mm.), respectively, scrolling gilt-wood and gesso frames (2) PROVENANCE Maxime H‚bert Collection, Paris. With Gualtiero Schubert, Milan. LITERATURE L. R. Schidlof, The Miniature in Europe, Graz, 1964, I, p. 342, II, p. 971, illustrated III, pl. 273, fig. 537 and pl. 274, fig. 537A. NOTES The sitters are probably Jacques-Louis-Etienne de Reiset (1771-1835), a prominent government official and receveur g‚n‚ral des Finances, and his wife Colette-D‚sir‚e-Th‚rŠse, n‚e Godefroy (1782-1850). Their elder son Fr‚d‚ric, pictured with his father, subsequently became curator of drawings in the Louvre, curator of paintings in the Louvre and director of the French National Museums.