Laurent DABOS (Toulouse, 1761-Paris, 1835) - Radiated head of Napoleon I in a laurel wreath.
Oil on canvas, unsigned (round format).
Circa 1806.
In its original Empire-period gilded wood frame decorated with stars.
On the back, a handwritten label: "Napoléon / par Girodet Trioson".
D. 48.5 cm (as seen).
Frame: D. 68.5 cm.
Provenance
- Bernard Franck Collection (1848-1924), Paris (label on back).
- Wildenstein, New York.
- Private collection, New York.
- Christie's sale, New York, January 23, 2004, lot 112 (sold for $14,340), as Laurent Dabos.
- European private collection.
Exhibitions
- Paris, Galerie des Champs-Elysées, Exposition Historique et Militaire de La Révolution et de l'Empire, 1895, no. 173 (mentioned on back label).
- Paris, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Exposition David et ses élèves, April 7th - June 9th 1913.
- London, Wildenstein, Art in Early XIX Century France, June 10th - July 31st 1981.
- New York, Wildenstein, Consulat - Empire - Restauration. Art in Early XIX Century France, April 21st - May 28th 1982.
- Hamburg, Kunsthalle, Europa 1789. Aufklärung-Verklärung-Verfall, September 15th - November 19th 1989, no. 497.
- New York, The Dahesh Museum, The Dahesh Salon, July 1st - November 29th 1997, no. 33.
- Roslyn Harbor, New York, Nassau County Museum of Art, Napoleon and His Age, January 28th - April 29th 2001.
Related works
Until recently, the present work was attributed to Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy Trioson (1767-1824). However, the only signed version of this striking composition was made by Laurent Dabos, dated 1806, and is in the collection of the Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin (D. 48.5 cm, inv. Gm 1988/29, see ill. 1). It was probably presented in 1806 by Napoleon to Count Carl August Ferdinand von Wechmar, advisor to the Court of Baden.
Other versions are known, sometimes attributed to Dabos, sometimes to Girodet (for an account of these versions and a discussion of the composition's iconography, see the exhibition catalog, Hamburg, Kunsthalle, 1989, pp. 363-4):
- Alte Pinakothek, Munich, dated circa 1810 (D. 48.6 cm, inv. 3073, see ill. 2)
- Palazzo Pitti, Florence, circa 1807, listed since 1810 in the inventories of Elisa Bacciochi's Villa de Poggio Imperiale (see ill. 3).
- Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery, Exeter, as attributed to Dabos (see ill. 4).
- Sotheby's sale, New York, May 23, 2001, lot 144, as attributed to Girodet, wrongly identified as our painting (D. 47 cm, see ill. 5).
- De Nicolay-Baron-Ribeyre sale, Drouot, October 12, 2001, lot 49, as attributed to Girodet (D. 49.5 cm, see ill. 6). In a frame identical to ours (damaged and with fewer stars).
- An earlier, more complete version by Dabos, depicting Bonaparte as First Consul, circa 1803, is in the Wellington Collection, Apsley House, London (see ill. 7).
- An English satirical engraving inspired by our version, by Thomas Rowlandson, titled "Napoleon Le Grande", published in London circa 1813 (see ill. 8).
- A French engraving by Antoine Aubert, depicting Napoleon Le Grand, after a drawing by Alexandre Tardieu, himself after our version by Laurent Dabos, circa 1810, is in the Château de Fontainebleau (inv. N730, see ill. 9 and next lot).
Literature
- Cat. exhibition, G. Bapst, Exposition Historique et Militaire de La Révolution et de l'Empire, Galerie des Champs-Élysées, Paris, 1895, p. 80, no. 173.
- Cat. expo, Wildenstein (G. Bernier ed.), Art in Early XIXth Century France, London, June 10th - July 31st 1981, p. 62 and p. 24 (illustrated).
- N. MacGregor, 'Current and Forthcoming Exhibitions: London Wildenstein, in Burlington Magazine, CXXIII, 940, July 1981, p. 432; fig. 77.
- Cat. expo, Wildenstein (G. Bernier ed.), Consulat - Empire - Restauration. Art in Early XIX Century France, New York, 21 April 21st - May 28th 1982, p. 106 and p. 60 (illustrated).
- A. Stief, Die Aeneisillustrationen von Girodet-Trioson. Künstlerische und literarische Rezeption von Vergils Epos in Frankreich um 1800, Frankfurt, Bern and New York, 1986, pp. 270-272, fig. 64.
- Exhibition catalogue, W. Hofmann, Europa 1789. Aufklärung-Verklärung-Verfall, Hamburg, Kunsthalle, September 15th - November 19th 1989, pp. 363-364, no. 497, fig. 47 (illustrated).
- Cat. exhibition, Dahesh Museum, The Dahesh Salon, July 1st - November 29th 1997, New York, The Dahesh Museum, no. 33.
- W. Telesko, 'Napoleon I. Asl "thronender Jupiter." Zur Rezeption des europäischen Herrscherporträts bei Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Pantheon, LV, 1997, pp. 202-204, note 26.
- Rosenberg, Pierre and Mandrella, David. Gesamtverzeichnis Französische Gemälde des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts in deutschen Sammlungen. Bonn-München, 2005.
History
Perhaps because of this unusual depiction of Napoleon, this portrait has to
Estim. 15,000 - 20,000 EUR