Description
Carmontelle was an amateur artist working in the circle of the Duke of Orléans (at that time, Louis Philippe d'Orléans, great-grandson of Monsieur, the brother of Louis XIV). Hundreds of the artist's drawn portraits survive, most of them similar to this one in format and technique. Carmontelle had an official appointment in the Orléans household as tutor to the Duke's son. Because of this, he met many of the most prominent men and women in France, whom he drew for his own amusement. The family in this drawing is identifiable because of another drawing of them by Carmontelle, now in the Musée Condé, in Chantilly (near Paris).
Provenance
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Madame Millin du Perreux and Her Son, with a Painted Portrait of Monsieur Jérôme-Robert Millin du Perreux
c. 1760
Accession Number
2008.409
Medium
red chalk, black chalk, and watercolor, heightened with white chalk or paint?
Dimensions
Sheet: 31.5 x 20.1 cm (12 3/8 x 7 15/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Credit Line
Bequest of Muriel Butkin
Tags
Drawing Neoclassical & Romantic (1751–1850) Watercolor French
Background & Context
Background Story
Louis Carmontelle (1717-1806) was a French artist known for the precisely observed, characterfully composed portraits that make him one of the most accomplished portrait artists of the French 18th century. Madame Millin du Perreux and Her Son from c. 1760 depicts Madame Millin du Perreux and her son with a painted portrait of Monsieur Millin du Perreux in the precisely observed, characterfully composed manner that distinguishes Carmontelle's best work. Carmontelle was known for his precisely observed, characterfully composed portraits that capture the personality and social context of his sitters with remarkable precision, and the c. 1760 painting shows the French portrait tradition at its most accomplished.
Cultural Impact
Madame Millin du Perreux and Her Son is important in the history of French portraiture because it demonstrates the precisely observed, characterfully composed manner that Carmontelle brought to portraiture as one of the most accomplished portrait artists of the French 18th century. Carmontelle's precisely observed, characterfully composed portraits—capturing the personality and social context of his sitters with remarkable precision—represent one of the most accomplished traditions in French 18th-century portraiture, and the c. 1760 painting shows this tradition at its most precisely observed.
Why It Matters
Madame Millin du Perreux and Her Son is Carmontelle's precisely observed French portrait: a mother and son depicted in the characterfully composed manner of one of the most accomplished portrait artists of the French 18th century. The c. 1760 painting shows the French portrait tradition at its most precisely observed.
