Lot 193: *NICOLAS BERTIN (1668-1736)

both signed and dated lower right Bertin 1723 both oil on canvas Nicolas Bertin was a pupil of Jean Jouvenet and Bon Boullogne before studying at the Academy. In 1685, he won first prize in the Grand Prix which entitled him to go to Rome. Upon his return to France in 1689, Nicolas found employment at Versailles thanks to his brother Claude who was already working there as a sculptor. Until 1701, the year when he received his first royal commission for the Ménagerie, Nicolas' oeuvre consisted mainly of small mythological pictures in the manner of Boullogne. In 1703, he was elected to the Royal Academy with his Hercules Releasing Prometheus (Musée du Louvre, Paris) and was made professor in 1715. During this period, he was commissioned by Louis XIV to decorate the Château du Trianon. He also received commissions from the Elector Max Emmanuel de Bavière and supplied a number of overdoors for Nymphenburg and Schleissheim. The present pair of dated pictures are fine examples of "cabinet pictures". Thierry Lefrançois (see Literature below) includes the present pair in a group of religious paintings of remarkable refinement, executed between 1718 and 1727, in which the classicism of the composition reflects the influence of Jouvenet (see Literature below, p. 66). These mature works make a significant contribution to Bertin's oeuvre and to a renewed trend in history painting at the turn of 18th century. According to Louvre archives (see Literature below) Jules Fert offered to sell the present pair to the Louvre in on August 31, 1878, however, the offer was refused by the Director.

Collection Jûles Fert, Nice, by 1878