Robert Nanteuil

Robert Nanteuil (Reims 1623-1678 Paris) Portrait de Monseigneur Philibert-Emmanuel de Beaumanoir deLavardin (1617-1671), bust-length, wearing the Order ofSaint-Esprit signed 'Nanteuil' black chalk, pastel, blue watercolour heightened with white, stripsof paper added by the artist at the top and bottom of thedrawing 13¾ x 10 in. (35 x 25.5 cm.) Literature C. Wickert and C. Petitjean, Catalogue de l'oeuvre gravé deRobert Nanteuil, Paris, 1925, nos. 100-1. J.A. Ganz, 'Robert Nanteuil's Doctored Bishop', Print Quarterly,XI, 1994, p. 292. N. Jeffares, Dictionary of pastellists before 1800, London, 2006,p. 384, illustrated. T. Burns, The Invention of Pastel Painting, London, 2007, pp.49 and 186, n. 44. A. Adamczak, Robert Nanteuil (1623-1678): Portraitiste du temps deLouis XIV, PhD thesis due to be published, Paris, 2012, no. 74, pl.122. Exhibited Paris, Galerie Aubry, Dessins français et italiens du XVIe et duXVIIe siècle, 1971, no. 76, illustrated. Engraved R. Nanteuil, in reverse, with the inscription 'Ad vivum faciebat1660' (Ganz, op. cit., fig. 166). Lot Notes The sitter, who became archbishop of Le Mans in 1648 andcommander of the order of Saint-Esprit in 1661, was little suitedto the ecclesiastical life. He was noted for his personal vanityand, earlier in his career, had been summoned before a religiouscommission on the grounds of atheism and impiety. The presentportrait captures something of this urbane irreverence and wasexecuted by Nanteuil as a preparatory drawing for his own portraitengraving of the bishop, published in 1660 (Fig. 1). Nanteuil usedpastel infrequently and it is especially rare at the date of thisportrait, but two other pastel portraits from the 1660s are in thecollection of the Louvre. Both portraits, showing Jean Dorieu andDominique de Ligny, bishop of Meaux, were also engraved (G.Monnier, Musée du Louvre: Cabinet des Dessins: Pastels des XVIIèmeet XVIIIème siècles, Paris, 1972, nos. 9-11). The present drawing has a fascinating afterlife in the form of itsengraving, described by Ganz (op. cit.). Nanteuil's originalportrait engraving of Beaumanoir de Lavardin was altered, at somepoint after 1666, to show the figure of a charlatan doctor,outfitted in an academic gown and holding a chamberpot (Fig. 2).The lack of any attempt to disguise the features of Beaumanoir deLavardin suggests that he was the object of satire, perhaps becauseof the growing scandal in the 1660s over the disparity between hisecclesiastical rank and worldly attitude. We are grateful to Audrey Adamczak for her assistance incataloguing this drawing.

robert nanteuil (1623-1678) messire pierre seguier chevalier marquis de s. brisson prevost de paris (petitjean & wickert 201) engraving, 1659, on paper with a proprietary watermark, with margins; with another by the same; with a small group of 17th century french prints by claude mellan, jacques callot, and others; and honore daumier, 10 lithographs, sur blanc, in generally good condition (24)

Robert Nanteuil (1623-1678) Portrait of the Duc de Nemours, half-length, wearing a lacecollar signed and dated 'R. Nanteuil Faciebat 1652.' black lead heightened with white on vellum in a feigned octagonalframe 172 x 126 mm. Lot Notes A comparable drawing, of the same size but executed a yearbefore this one, is in the Louvre, L. Duclaux, Inventaire gnral desdessins, Ecole Franaise, Paris, 1975, XII, no. 8. The Louvredrawing is similarly presented in an octagon. Another drawing inthe Louvre is signed in the same way as the present drawing, L.Duclaux, op. cit., no. 10. In 1651 Nanteuil executed two prints ofthe Duc de Nemours (1625-1659) as Archbishop of Rheims for thefrontispiece of a thesis, C. Petitjean and C. Wickert, Catalogue del'oeuvre grav de Robert Nanteuil, Paris, 1925, nos. 178-9. Thepresent drawing shows the sitter as Duc de Nemours after he hadrenounced his Archbishopric and succeeded his brother to the title.It appears to be the pendant to an engraving by Nanteuil of theDuchesse de Nemours which has the same feigned octagonal frame, C.Petitjean and C. Wickert, op. cit., no. 180. Henri II de Savoie, younger son of the Duc de Nemours, wasappointed Archbishop of Rheims in 1651, without having taken holyorders. When his elder brother was killed in a duel by the Duc deBeaufort he felt obliged to renounce his benefices and entersociety. In 1657 he married Marie d'Orlans-Longueville, daughter ofthe Duc de Longueville. This match between one of the richestheiresses in France and the bookish younger son was widely mocked.La Grande Mademoiselle, cousin of King Louis XIV, remarked 'Elle semaria et pleura beaucoup, ce que j'ai ou dire. La fivre prit M. deNemours en sourtant de l'glise, et il n'a pas eu un moment de santdepuis...'. Nemours died two years later.

Robert Nanteuil* (1623-1678) Portrait of Simon Arnauld, Marquis de Pomponne pastel 22 x 18 in. (570 x 455 mm.) Engraved In reverse by the artist. Lot Notes The marquis de Pomponne was with Colbert and Louvois one of thegreat ministers of King Louis XIV. His career was that of adistinguished diplomat who through his family connections occupiedat court a priviledged position. The son of a powerfulparliamentary family which had served since Catherine of Medici asadvisors to the Crown. Simon Arnauld was the son of an eruditeadvocate and the nephew of one of the greatest theologians of hisage, the great Arnault, who defended the Jansenist cause from theconvent of Port Royal. As a result of his close association withsuch a highly sensitive political group, the marquis de Pomponnesuffered many setbacks in his career, yet his talents secured himfrom 1671 to 1679 a position as minister of Foreign Affairs andafter the death of his great enemy, Louvois, in 1691, a permanentseat at the King's Council which he occupied until his death in1699. The duc de Saint Simon described the man in very flattering terms"C'toit un homme qui excelloit surtout par un sens droit, juste,exquis, qui pesoit tut et faisoit tout avec maturit, mais sanslenteur; d'une modestie, d'une modration, d'une simplicit de moeursadmirables, et de la plus solide de la plus claire pit. Ses yeuxmontroient de la douceur et de l'esprit; toute sa physionomie, dela sagesse et de la candeur; un art, une dextrit, un talentsingulier prendre ses avantages en traitant; une finesse, unesouplesse sans ruse qui savoit parvenir ses fins, sans irriter; unedouceur et une patience qui charmoit dans les affaire; et, avec,cela, une fermet, et, quand il le falloit, une hauteur soutenirl'intrt de l'Etat et la grandeur de la couronne que rien ne pouvoitentamer ... Poli, obligeant, et jamais ministre qu'en traitant, ilse fit adorer la cour ... La douceur et le sel de son commercetoient charmants, et ses conversations, sans qu'il le voulut,infiniment instructives". This exceptionally large pastel is similar to a smaller portrait ofLouis-David d'Attichy, Bishop of Riez, sold in these Rooms on 10January 1996, lot 181, or the lighter sketched portrait ofMonseigneur Philibert-Emmanuel de Lavardin from the NormandCollection sold at Christie's, Monaco, 20 June 1994, lot 14. Anequally finished pastel of Monseigneur Dominique de Liguy, Bishopde Meaux, was published by G. Monnier, Inventaire des collectionspubliques franaises, Pastels XVIIme et XVIIIgeme Sicles, Paris,Muse du Louvre, Cabinet des Dessins, Paris, 1972, no. 10,illustrated. The print after the present pastel was designed to adorn thefrontispiece of a doctoral thesis of two brothers Gaspard andClaude Garrot. Theological propositions were frequently printedbelow the portrait of the eminent person to whom the thesis wasdedicated on large sheets of paper pasted on the walls of thechurch before the public defence of the thesis. Later only theengraved portrait would be preserved.