Louis Carrogis de CARMONTELLE (1717-1806): Pierre-Victor-Joseph de Brünstatt, Baron de Besenval - c. 1761
Price: 3200 €
Etching, 280 x 190 mm. Baudicour 2, Gruyer 122.
Very fine impression printed on watermarked laid paper (cartouche: AUVERGNE 1742). Very good condition. Minimal foxing in the subject, very small reinforced tear in the right margin. All margins untrimmed (sheet size: 350 x 264 mm). Early annotation in pen and ink in lower margin: Besenval.
Louis Carrogis de Carmontelle, a self-taught painter of modest origins, became famous for his numerous portraits (over 750) of his contemporaries in profile, men and women from all walks of life. These drawings were already known and appreciated during his lifetime. Baron Grimm wrote in 1763:
“For several years now Carmontelle has been working on a collection of portraits in pencil, with colour washes. He has superior talent for capturing the mien, the deportment and the countenance of the people he paints, his portraits are made with infinite ease, grace and wit. It has often happened to me that I recognised in real life people I had only ever seen in his books.” (Friedrich Melchior, baron Grimm, La Correspondance littéraire, 1st January – 15 June 1763, our translation).
While Carmontelle drew many portraits, he etched very few. Baudicour describes only six etchings, five of which are etched after his own drawings and one after a composition by Boucher. Impressions of these etchings are rare.
Pierre-Victor-Joseph de Brünstatt, baron de Besenval (1721-1791), a Swiss-born soldier, writer and court man, was a close friend of Marie-Antoinette. His portrait by Carmontelle shows him wearing the Cross of St. Louis, awarded in 1761. The original drawing, in red chalk and black pencil, is in the Musée de Chantilly. It is described by Gruyer in no. 122 of his catalog.
Reference: François-Anatole Gruyer: Chantilly: Les Portraits de Carmontelle, 1902.