JAQUES THOURON
Portrait miniature of a Girl in the guise of a classical female figure, after Jean Baptiste Greuze (1725-1805); circa 1780s
The Limner Company : Portrait Miniature
Date Circa 1780s
Medium Enamel
Dimension 0.65 cm (0¹/₄ inches)
The detail and skill in depicting emotion that makes paintings by Greuze so captivating can certainly be seen in this copy. The tears that seem to appear in the girl’s eyes, as well as the softness of her pose, are reminiscent of examples of portraits by Greuze such as Ariadne and Psyche, both in the Wallace Collection[2]. The fact that Thouron has managed to capture these on such a small scale, and through the medium of enamel, is particularly impressive. In order to create the miniature, he would have had to heat different layers of enamel, heating each one up to a specific temperature to get different colours. It is through this technique that an impression of great depth has been developed.
Thouron is known to have painted another miniature after Greuze’s The Broken Jar[3]. As this was exhibited in the Salon de la Correspondance in 1781, it is possible to suggest that the current example was painted around the same time. Since its creation, it has passed through the collection of Felix Panhard, where it would have likely received the case that it is in today, embossed with the artist’s name.
[1] Wallace Collection, London, Inventory Number M311.
[2] The Wallace collection, London, inventory numbers P421 (Ariadne), and P388 (Psyche).
[3] L.R. Schidlof, The Miniature in Europe, Graz, 1964, vol.II, p.818.
Date: Circa 1780s
Medium: Enamel
Dimension: 0.65 cm (0¹/₄ inches)
Provenance: Provenance: Probably Mme Ve Lenoir, Paris, Hotel Drouot, Catalogue des objets d'art... dépendant de la succession de Mme Ve Lenoir, 19 May 1874; Probably M. Couvreur, Paris, Hotel Drouot, Catalogue des bijoux anciens, miniatures, tabatières et émaux peints dépendant de la succession de M. Couvreur, 6-8 December 1875, lot 107; *Probably Felix Panhard, Paris, Hotel Drouot, Bel ensemble de miniatures des XVIIIe et XIXe siècles, 2nd day’s sale, 18 March 1976; Bought by the present owner through Galerie Jaegy Theoleyre, c.2014.
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