Lot 330: MICHEL-BARTHÉLÉMY OLLIVIER

MOZART GIVING A CONCERT IN THE 'SALON DES QUATRE-GLACES AU PALAIS DUTEMPLE' IN THE COURT OF THE PRINCE DE CONTI
the relining canvas with a transcription of the royal insignia of Louis-Philippe, Duc d'Orléans and an inscription: Intérieur du Sallon/ de M. le Prince de/ Conty au Temple vers/ 1770 (correspondence from the restorer J.H. Cooke & Sons Ltd., 11 Masons Yard, Duke Street, St. James's, London, dated November 4, 1971, states "We certify that the inscription on the lining canvas is a direct copy of the inscription on the back of the actual picture.")

21 3/4 by 26 in.; 55.3 by 66 cm.

oil on canvas

J. Vatout, Catalogue Historique et Descriptif des Tableaux Appartenants a S.A.S Mgr. Le duc d'Orléans, Paris 1825-1826, vol. IV, p. 536 (under Tableux Sans Numéros, as Anonymous).

Louis-Philippe, Duc d'Orléans and future King of France (1773-1850; reg. 1830-48), and said to be by descent until circa 1970;
With Julius Wietzner;
By whom sold, Vaduz, Stabilmento Falivo, July 1983, (as "a version after the Louvre painting"), for $ 50,000, to the present owner.

The composition depicts the Salon des Quatre-Glaces at the Palais du Temple (destroyed), the Paris home of Louis Francois I de Bourbon, Prince de Conti (1717-1776) with the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at the harpsichord and the French operatic tenor Pierre Jélyotte (1713-1797) holding a guitar, and other figures of the court. The event took place during the summer of 1766 when the young Mozart, then just ten years old, came to France for a second time with his father and sister; they arrived in Paris on May 20 (th) and departed on July 9 (th) and were received with great enthusiasm.

The prime version of this composition, originally in the collection of the Prince de Conti and seized during the Revolution, is in the Musée National du Château et des Trianons, Versailles (oil on canvas, 54 by 70 cm.). A third version, now in a private collection, was probably commissioned by the Count of Chabot, future Duke of Rohan, who is depicted in the painting standing near the young Mozart (see the catalogue of the exhibition, l'Isle-Adam, Musee d'art et d'histoire, Les tresors des Princes de Bourbon Conti, March 28-October 1, 2000, p. 29). Assuming that the transcription on the present painting is correct, this version was painted some four years after the original.