| | | | | | | | Document | Sale Catalog Br-A2197 | |
| Auction House | Christie's -- from catalog: Mr. Christie | | Sale Location | At his Great Room in Pall Mall, London, England, UK | | Seller(s) | Trumbull, John
from catalog: John Trumbull, Esq. | | Lugt Number | 5535 | | Notes | "A catalogue a most superb and distinguished collection of Italian, French, Flemish, and Dutch pictures, a selection fromed with peculiar taste and judgment by John Trumbull, Esq. during his late residence in Paris, from some of the most celebrated cabints in Frence."
JPGM I total for sale £ 8,212.1.0.; JPGM II total given £ 8,217.17.0. [EBNP catalogue copied on fiche ; important handwritten information about the pictures at the end of the sale. Also hand recorded sale information.] The MMNY copy indicates that several of the lots at the end of the sale belonged to Benjamin West and lots 51-56 belonged to Edward Foxhall.
See Irma Jaffé's book on Trumbull, pages 172-175 for much background information. She does not mention Lebrun, whose papers show that he had a share in Trumbull's paintings and that he supplied a large number of them. The Trumbull account books records that he bought paintings from Le Rouge, Grandpré, and Constantin in March, 1795. A friend, Daniel Parker, was a co-investor.
Roberts' Memorials of Christie's calls the Trumbull sale the most important of the year: "The most important sale of this year, 1797, however, was that of the collection of John Trumbull, February 17th and 18th. This collection was purchased by Trumbull, who was attached to the American legation at Paris in the spring of 1795, by which time the most illustrious families of France had arrived at the most acute stage of their distress. The opportunity was an exceptionally favourable one to Mr. Trumbull's design, and he appears to have brought to his task great knowledge and excellent good taste. The two days' sale resulted in a total of 7,996 $s, although many of the lots were bought in. The pictures were for the most part of the Flemish and Dutch schools, but there were a few notable Italian examples. The more important were: Vandermeulen, a Battle Scene, 59 guineas; Teniers, Portrait of a Lady with a Negro Servant, 50 guineas; Jordaens, a Holy Family, 50 guineas; Sebastian Bourdon, The Daughters of Jethro," a very fine composition, worthy of N. Poussin," 125 guineas; Rembrandt, a half-length Portrait of a Lady, "one of his finest and most extraordinary works" 100 guineas; Vanderwerff, Children with a Bird's Nest," an exquisite little picture of this admired master," 84 guineas; Gerard Dow, The Onion Cutter, 67 guineas; Van der Heyden, a Landscape, with water and boats by W. Van de Velde, and figures by A. Van de Velde, 83 guineas; Wouverman, a Return from the Chase, 98 guineas; Teniers, Gamblers at Trictrac, no guineas (Lord Suffolk); and a Chemist in his Laboratory, 175 guineas (Bryan); Bassano, The Magdalen at the Feast of the Pharisee, 230 guineas (Agar); two by Vernet, a storm and a shipwreck, 140 guineas (Lord Temple), and a view of the Castle and Bridge of St. Angelo, in Rome, with a fete on the Tiber with Vernet himself, his wife, and her father, among the spectators 125 guineas; Bronzino, the Madonna, Child, and St. Catherine, 170 guineas; N. Poussin, a Holy Family, 170 guineas, and Christ on the Mount of Olives, 260 guineas; Murillo, St. John with the Lamb, 200 guineas; Pordenone, Dejanira and the Centaur pursued by Hercules, 560 guineas; Guercino, Angelica and Medora, a life-size work, 440 guineas; Berghem, Landscape, with figures and cattle, 900 guineas; Le Brun, The Triumph of Constantine, 150 guineas; and Raphael, the Virgin, Christ and St. John, known as the "Madonna du Corset Rouge," 890. This picture was brought from Rome by Cardinal Mazarin, and, notwithstanding very high prices were offered for it, particularly by the Prince of Conde, was religiously preserved in his family until the distress of the Revolution, in which M. Primodan, the late possessor, had his full share, when he determined to part with it for a very extravagant price; it was originally painted on wood, but, beginning to decay, was transferred upon cloth in 1767 by Hacquin. It was the altarpiece of the private chapel of Mazarin, and at his death he bequeathed it to the ancestor of M. Primodan. Trumbull gave 40,000 livres for it. How far the picture itself is genuine cannot be dealt with here; there is (or was) a duplicate of it in the Louvre. This very fine collection of pictures included examples from the cabinets of such connoisseurs as MM. Joubart, Des Touches, Grandpre, Le Rouge, the Due de Praslin, the Baron D'Espagnac, Due de Tallard, Donjoux, Prince Carignan, Le Brun, De la Regniere, and others." | | Catalog Location(s) | VAL [annotations used in Sales Contents; photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Annot. with all buyers and prices.
RKDH
SRP
JPGM II Annot. with some buyers and all prices, plus some modern notes by E.K. Waterhouse. A stamp with the initials "JC" is marked on the title page and may stand for "James Christie."
JPGM I Annot. with all prices. It belonged to Wm. Seguier and perhaps before that to his father David.
ISGB Annot. with prices and a couple of notes.
FLNY Annot. with a few buyers and all prices.
EBNP [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Annot. with some names, all prices and columns that show whether lots were sold or bought in. The catalogue was previously owned by Charles Wertheimer.
MMNY [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Auctioneer's copy [?], annot. with buyers and prices | | See Also | Sale Contents | | | Art Sales Catalogues Online | | | Digitized Catalog - INHA | | | Digitized Catalog - GRI | | | Digitized Catalog - Met | | | Digitized Catalog - Met | | | |
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