Image scanned and/or photographed, then color-corrected by Pat Cagney.

The Artist in His Studio

Artist Nicolas de Largillière (French, 1656-1746)

CultureFrench

Dateca. 1686

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsOverall: 58 5/8 x 45 5/8 in. (148.9 x 115.9 cm)
Overall, Frame: 75 x 62 1/2 in. (190.5 x 158.8 cm)

InscribedSigned lower right: "Peint Par N. De Largillierre"

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.513

Collections

European Art before 1945

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 206

DescriptionThis is an oil on canvas painting. It is an early self-portrait of the artist, who sits at the right with his palette and brushes. The scene is in the artist's studio. There are three gentlemen wearing wigs replete with long curls. They are expensively dressed in 17th century French costume and draped with richly colored fabric. The figure on the left of the canvas is standing, gesturing off to his right as he stares out of the canvas, at the viewer. The central figure, Flemish engraver Gerard Edelinck, is seated and looks over his right shoulder at him while pointing at a portrait print he created with his right hand. The figure on the right of the canvas is Nicolas De Largillierre, as indicated by his palette and brushes in his left hand. He is also holding up the aforementioned print with his right hand. The bottom foreground is in shadows, as the light from the windows primarily illuminates the three figures. On the floor there are sculpture pieces, one of a woman's head and another of a man crouched, as well as a rolled up scroll or parchment.

Label TextNicolas de Largillière French, 1656-1746 The Artist in His Studio, ca. 1686 Oil on canvas How many portraits do you see here? There are actually five. The artist sits on the right with his palette and brushes in hand. The engraver Gérard Edelinck (1640–1707) sits next to him, and the two hold up a portrait print that Edelinck made from Largillière’s original painting (displayed at far right). The man standing behind them is Pierre Bernard, who commissioned the engraving. Eager to own images of famous contemporaries, many Frenchmen in Largillière’s day collected prints like this one. As celebrated here, collaborations of portrait painters and engravers could be immensely profitable. Such arrangements also brought art images to a wide audience at affordable prices. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.513 ProvenanceComte de Montreuil, Paris, by 1928; Princesse de Faucigny-Lucinge, Paris, by 1952, to 1954; Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. by 1956; Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. to the Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, 1971.Exhibition History"N. de Largillierre," Petit Palais, Paris, May-June, 1928. (Exh. cat. no. 68). "Chefs-d'oeuvre des collections parisiennes," Musée Carnavalet, Paris, Nov. - Dec., 1950. (Exhib. cat. no. 34). "Cent portraits d'hommes du XIVe siècle à nos jours," Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 1952. (Exhib. cat. no. 49a). "Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Portland Art Museum, Oregon; Seattle Art Museum; California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Minneapolis Art Institute; St. Louis City Art Museum; William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City; Detroit Institute of Arts; and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, March 2, 1956 - April 14, 1957. (Exh. cat. no. 61). "Paintings from Private Collections. Summer Loan Exhibition," Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1958. "French Masters of the Eighteenth Century," Finch College Museum of Art, New York, Feb. 27 - April 7, 1963. (Exhib. cat. no. 3). "Vouet to Rigaud. French Masters of the Seventeenth Century," Finch College Museum of Art, New York, April 20 - June 18, 1967. (Exhib. cat. no. 52). "Gods and Heroes, Baroque Images of Antiquity," Wildenstein Gallery, New York, Oct. 30, 1968 - Jan. 4, 1969. (Exhib. cat. no. 20). "Homage to the Louvre," Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, May - Sept., 1976. "Treasures from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk and Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Tennessee Fine Arts Center at Cheekwood, Nashville, June 12 - Sept. 5, 1977. (Exhib. cat. no. 17). "Largillierre and the Eighteenth-Century Portrait," Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Sept. 19 - Nov. 15, 1981. "French Paintings from The Chrysler Museum," North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC, May 31 - Sept. 14, 1986; Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL, Nov. 6, 1986 - Jan. 18, 1987. (Exhib. cat. no. 8). "Nicolas de Largillierre," Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris, France, October 13, 2003 - January 31, 2004. "America Collects Eighteenth-Century French Painting," National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., May 21 – August 20, 2017.Published ReferencesNicolas de Largillierre, 1656-1746. _Exposition N. de Largillierre_. Paris: Éditions de la Gazette des Beaux-arts. 1928. No. 62. C. Gronowski. "L'Exposition de Largillière au Petit Palais," _Gazette des Beaux-Arts_. vol. 17. 06/1928: 325-326. Exhibition catalog. _Chefs-D'Oeuvre des Collections Parisiennes_. Paris: Musée Carnavelet. 1950. No. 34. Bertina S. Manning. _Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.: An Exhibition Organized by the Portland Art Museum, Oregon_. Portland: Portland Art Association. 1956. No. 61. Eric M. Zafran and Mario Amaya. _Treasures from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk and Walter P. Chrysler, Jr._. Tennessee Fine Arts Center at Cheekwood, Nashville. 1977. No. 17. _Largillierre and the Eighteenth-Century Portrait_ exhibition catalogue. Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1981, no. 45. Chrysler Museum. _Selections from the Permanent Collection: The Chrysler Museum_. Norfolk, VA: Chrysler Museum of Art. 1982: 36. Georges de Lastic. "Largillierre et ses modeles," _L'Oeil_.. No. 323. 06/1982: pp. 24-31, 78-79. *This author, in this article and the next, identified the sitter as the artist himself, thereby ending years of scholarly debate. Georges de Lastic. "Largillierre á Montréal," _Gazette des Beaux-Arts_. Sixth series, vol. 102. July/August issue, 1983: 37. *This author, in this article and his 1982 article, identified the sitter as the artist himself, thereby ending years of scholarly debate. Jefferson C. Harrison, Jr. _French Paintings from the Chrysler Museum_, exhibition catalogue. North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, and Birmingham Museum of Art, 1986-87. *See for further references. Jefferson C. Harrison, _The Chrysler Museum Handbook of the European and American Collections: Selected Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings_. The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA, 1991, 50, #39. Dominique Brême, "Nicolas de Largillierre," _Doessier de l'Art_. Dijon, France: Les Éditions Faton SA, 1998: 3 (det.), 6-7. Merilyn Savill, "The Triple Portrait of Pierre Bernard, Gérard Edelinck and Nicolas de Largillière and the Debate in the French Academy in 1686 over the Status of Engravers," _Melbourne Art Journal_ 5 (2001): 41-52. Samuel H. Kress Foundation, _Old Masters in Context 2000-2006_ (New York: Samuel H. Kress Foundation. 2006), 86. Jeff Harrison, _Collecting with Vision: Treasures From the Chrysler Museum of Art_ (London: D. Giles Ltd., 2007), 32, fig. 25. ISBN: 978-0-940744-72-1 Philip Conisbee, et al., _French Paintings of the Fifteenth through the Eighteenth Century_, (Washington D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 2009), 300, fig. 1. Distributed by Princeton University Press. Yuriko Jackall, et. al., _America Collects: Eighteenth-Century French Painting_, (Washington D.C.: National Gallery of Art. 2017), pg. 217, plate 42.