| | | | | | | | Document | Sale Catalog F-A1147 | |
| Sale Location | Rue du Gros-Chenet, n.o 488, Paris, France | | Seller(s) | Ducloz-Dufresnoy, Charles-Nicolas
[ou autres]
from catalog: [Aucun]
from auctioneer's copy: Dufrenoy &c | | Expert | Lebrun, Jean-Baptiste-Pierre | | Commissaire-Priseur | Baudouin, Antoine-Thibault | | Lugt Number | 5548 | | No. of Painting Lots | 38 | | Notes | The contents of this anonymous sale were 36 lots of paintings, mostly from the Dutch and French schools, in addition to a single lot with a painting in enamel, one lot of bronze sculpture, nine lots of scientific instruments and eight lots of miscellaneous decorative objects, including furniture. The expert J.B.P. Lebrun has annotated the title page of his own catalogue (AAP) with the name "Dufrenoy &c", and the FLNY copy of the catalogue -- probably annotated by his younger brother Joseph-Alexandre Lebrun -- is annotated simply Mr. Dufrenoy." These refer to Charles-Nicolas Ducloz-Dufrenoy (1733-1794), a prominent notary and writer on economic matters who was guillotined in 1794 for having lent money to émigrés. His collections had been sold in the year following his death on Aug.18-21, 1795, and some of the paintings in the present sale had appeared there. Seven lots (nos.19, 21-26) are specified as having been in that sale, and two more (nos.27 and 29) can be traced there as well. All were by French artists, to which Ducloz-Dufresnoy's collection had been primarily devoted. Five were by Greuze, by whom Ducloz-Dufresnoy once owned as many as 23 canvasses. A few of those in the present sale had been left unsold at the sale in 1795 but others had been knocked down to different buyers, including Bouquet and Baudoin, both of whom seem to have had an association with Lebrun, so it is possible that some or all seven no longer belonged to the Ducloz-Dufresnoy heirs. The remaining 31 lots presumably belonged to other consigners, chief among whom was most probably Lebrun himself.
Although the title page of the catalogue does not give special attention to the Ducloz-Dufresnoy paintings, two of them were among those fetching the highest prices. By far the most expensive picture in the sale was lot 22 by Greuze known as the La Dame Bienfaisante, one of the two most ambitious works by the artist in the original collection (it is now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lyon.) In 1795 it had been knocked down to Bouquet for 74,000 assignats, a figure distorted by inflation, and at the present sale it brought 3560 francs. The other successful picture from this group was a marine view by Joseph Vernet that was sold for 1380 francs. It had been left unsold in 1795 at 50,100 assignats. The only other lot to realize such a price was no.16, a genre scene by Jan Asselyn, that brought 1500 francs. It had been bought by J.B.P. Lebrun in 1789 for 2400 livres, and was probably still his property. (Its present location is not known.) Among the other paintings that can be identified are lot 8 by Aelbert Cuyp, a landscape with a shepherd and a flock of goats now in the Städelsches Kunstinstitut in Frankfurt, and a Deposition by Pieter Pourbus dated 1558 that is now in the Eglise de Saint Maurice in Annecy, France. (B. Fredericksen) | | Catalog Location(s) | AAP [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Expert's copy annot. by J.B.P. Lebrun with all buyers and prices.
FLNY Annot. with most buyers and all prices. It probably belonged to the dealer J.A. Lebrun. Ex-LRB catalogue. | | See Also | Sale Contents | | | Art Sales Catalogues Online | | | Digitized Catalog - INHA | | | |
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