Jean-Philippe-Guy LE GENTIL, Comte de PAROY (1750 - 1824): Self-portrait of Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun in a straw hat
Price: € 1500
Etching, 78 x 68 mm (oval). Portalis and Beraldi vol. III-1, p. 274.
Very fine impression printed on laid paper, mounted on a sheet of laid paper. Slight yellowing of the sheet. Very good condition.
‘Paroy made a delicious little oval portrait, in etching, of Madame Vigée-Lebrun, to which he gave Madame de Polignac as a twin. These are two exquisite pieces, and no professional artist would have done them better than our amateur. In her amusing Souvenirs, Madame Lebrun gives us proof of her friendly relations with the Comte de Paroy, in connection with the famous Greek supper that she imagined improvising in her home: ‘I imagined dressing us all up in Greek style [...] the Comte de Paroy, who was staying in my house in the rue de Cléry, had a superb collection of Etruscan vases. He came to see me that very day at about four o'clock. I told him about my project, and he brought me a number of bowls and vases, from which I chose...’. (Portalis et Beraldi tome III-1, p. 274, our translation).
The etching by the Comte de Paroy is a very faithful reproduction of Vigée Le Brun's Self-Portrait in a Straw Hat, painted in 1782. One version is now in the National Gallery, London. The Comte de Paroy chose to do away with the cloudy background and opted for a small, oval format, making the work look like a miniature. He excelled in small formats, intended to decorate bonbonnières, snuffboxes or even buttons.
Rare. One impression is kept in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.