Lot 82: Louis Jean François Lagrenée, l'Aîné (Paris 1724-1805)

Louis Jean François Lagrenée, l'Aîné (Paris 1724-1805)
The Death of the Dauphin
oil on canvas, unlined
50¼ x 38 in. (127.7 x 96.5 cm.)

Anonymous sale; Christie's, Monaco, 22 June 1991, lot 150, as 'Attributed to Lagrenée' (122,100 francs).
Anonymous sale; Heritage, Dallas, 11 May 2005, lot 23242, as 'Attributed to Lagrenée'.

PROPERTY FROM A BOCA RATON, FLORIDA COLLECTION

Lagreneé's painting imaginatively commemorates the death at the royal Château of Fontainebleau of Louis de Bourgogne, eldest son of Louis XV of France and Queen Maria Leszczynska: the man who would have been king died of consumption at age 36, shortly before Christmas 1765. In Lagreneé's depiction, the Dauphin, his head in a bandage, embraces his grieving wife (Marie-Josèphe de Saxe), who sits by his bedside, while the Dauphin gazes at a vision of his previously deceased son, the Duc de Bourgogne, who descends from heaven to place the Crown of Immortality upon his father's head. The Dauphin's three living sons - the future Louis XVI, Louis XVIII and Charles X, all wearing the blue sash of the Order of the St. Esprit - expressively convey their love for their father and sorrow at his imminent passing. A sorrowing, pensive figure of France stands at the head of the bed. According to the Salon livret of 1767, the composition was conceived and commissioned by the Duc de La Vauguyon, Governor of the late Dauphin's children.

The present painting is a version of Lagreneé's composition, which is best known in the version, also unsigned and of identical size, that was purchased by the museum at Versailles in 1953 (transferred to Fontainebleau in 1956; MV7999). The present lot is executed with the fineness of touch, sharpness of drawing and clarity of coloring that is found in Lagreneé's autograph works.