Lot 253: Michel Barthélémy Olivier , Marseilles 1712 - 1784 Paris The Virtuous couple oil on canvas

oil on canvas

measurements note 44.7 by 47.4 cm.; 17 1/2 by 18 5/8 in.

Exhibition catalogue, L'Isle-Adam, Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Les Trésors des Princes de Bourbon Conti, 2000, p. 161, reproduced p. 28.

Félix Doistau;
His sale, Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, 9-11 June 1909, lot 66;
Anonymous sale, Paris, Palais Galliera, 9 June 1964, lot 37;
With Galerie Neuhaus, Würzburg, 1997;
With Partridge, London, 2000.

PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF DIMITRI MAVROMMATIS
Olivier was trained under Carle Vanloo in Paris before travelling to Spain with his nephew Louis-Michel Vanloo, who was appointed court painter to Philip V in 1734. He returned to France in 1763 and in 1766 was approved (agréé) as 'painter of genre' by the Académie Royale and was appointed official painter to Louis François I, Prince de Conti (1716-66). The present work may be compared to Olivier's Afternoon tea at the temple (Versailles, Musée National du Château et de Trianon), one of four major works commissioned by his new patron in 1766 and later shown at the Salon of 1777.υ1 This shows the Prince de Conti and his court at a concert given by the young Mozart in the salon of the Palais du Temple. In these, as in the present work, Olivier's style is clearly distinguished by its meticulous attention to detail and highly refined brushwork. In works such as these Olivier was helping to define a new type of portrait, rather akin to the 'conversation piece' in England, in which figures were depicted in the context of their social life. Whether the elegant figures depicted here, however, are indeed a family portrait or depict a literary or theatrical scene remains unknown. 1. Inv. 7007. Canvas, 53 by 68 cm. Reproduced in C. Constans, Musée National du chateâu de Versailles. Les Peintures, vol. II, Paris 1995, p. 692.