The J. Paul Getty Museum

Portrait of Gabriel Bernard de Rieux

Object Details

Title:

Portrait of Gabriel Bernard de Rieux

Artist/Maker:

Maurice-Quentin de La Tour (French, 1704 - 1788)

Culture:

French

Place:

Paris, France (Place Created)

Date:

1739–1741

Medium:

Pastel and gouache on blue paper, mounted on canvas

Object Number:

94.PC.39

Dimensions:

200.7 × 149.9 cm (79 × 59 in.)

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Object Description

Gabriel Bernard de Rieux, the youngest son of an immensely successful financier, wears the robes of his office as president of the second Court of Inquiry in the Parliament of Paris. From a large tome held on his lap, he lifts a sheet of paper. Intending to declare the sitter's erudition, wealth, and status, Maurice-Quentin de La Tour placed de Rieux in his study, surrounded by fashionable and expensive objects. Behind him is a richly ornamental screen; on a table covered with blue velvet cloth are books, papers, and an inkstand with a quill pen. A globe stands next to the table and a Turkish carpet covers the floor. These objects identify the sitter as a connoisseur of fine and precious thing--like his father, whose considerable fortune de Rieux inherited the year this portrait was painted.

This large, full-length portrait, still in its original, massive gilt frame, was assembled from separate sheets of paper laid on canvas and drawn entirely in pastel. The most sought-after portraitist of his day, La Tour worked exclusively in pastel, producing likenesses of the nobility and the wealthy middle class that were applauded for both their technical mastery and their astonishing verisimilitude. In fact, one contemporary critic marveled that such a work as this portrait could be created using crayons.

Learn more about this pastel and similar works in Eighteenth-Century Pastel Portraits on Google Arts & Culture.

Explore how artists pieced together large-scale portraits such as this in Pastels in Pieces on Google Arts & Culture.

Provenance
Provenance
about 1739/1741 - 1745

Gabriel Bernard de Rieux, French, 1687 - 1745 (Paris, France), by inheritance to his son, Anne-Gabriel-Henri Bernard de Rieux, 1745.

1745 -

Anne-Gabriel-Henri Bernard de Rieux (Paris, France; Château de Glisolles, Eure, France), by inheritance within the de Rieux family.

-

de Rieux Family, by inheritance to the duke of Clermont-Tonerre.

- 1919

duke of Clermont-Tonnerre (Paris, France), sold to Wildenstein & Co. (Paris), 1919.

1919

Wildenstein & Co. (Paris), sold to Ambatielos, 1919.

1919

Ambatielos, returned to Wildenstein & Co. (Paris), 1919.

1919 - about 1934

Wildenstein & Co. (Paris) (Paris, France), sold to Maurice (Edmond Charles) de Rothschild, about 1934.

about 1934 - 1957

Baron Maurice Edmond Charles de Rothschild, French, 1881 - 1957 (Paris, France; Château de Pregny, Switzerland), by inheritance within the Rothschild family.

-

Rothschild Family, by inheritance to Edmond II de Rothschild.

- 1994

Baron Edmond II de Rothschild (Château de Pregny, Switzerland), sold to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1994.

Exhibitions
Exhibitions
Salon of 1741 (September 1 to September 10, 1741)
  • Cour Carré (Paris), September 1, 1741 to September 10, 1974
Pastels français du XVIIème et du XVIIIème siècle (May 23 to June 26, 1927) (p. 21, pl. VI)
  • Galerie Charpentier, Paris, May 23 to June 26, 1927
Le Siècle de Louis XV vu par les artistes (1934) (p. 41, ill.)
  • Galerie des Beaux-Arts (Bordeaux), 1934
Paris: Life & Luxury (April 26, 2011 to January 2, 2012)
  • The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center (Los Angeles), April 26 to August 7, 2011
The Birth of Pastel (June 1 to December 17, 2017)
  • The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center (Los Angeles), June 1 to December 17, 2017
Pastels in Pieces (January 16 to July 29, 2018)
  • The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center (Los Angeles), January 16 to July 29, 2018
Eighteenth-Century Pastel Portraits (August 28, 2018 to October 13, 2019)
  • The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center (Los Angeles), August 28, 2018 to October 13, 2019
Bibliography
Bibliography

Lettre à M. de Poiresson-Chamarande, lieutenant general au baillage et siege présidial de Chaumont en Bassigny, au sujet des tableaux exposés au Salon du Louvre (1741; rep. in Besnard & Wildenstein, 1928), p. 34.

"Catalogue abrégé des Ouvrages de Mrs. les Peintres, Sculpteurs & Graveurs de l'Academie, aujourd'hui vivans, exposé dans le Salon du Louvre, le premier Septembre, jusques & compris le 23 du même mois." Mercure de France (October 1741), p. 2292.

"Exposition des tableaux de l'Academie." Observations sur les écrits modernes 25 (1741; reprint 1967, Geneva), p. 335, lettre 374 (Pierre-François Guyot Desfontaines?).

Desmaze, Charles. Maurice-Quentin de La Tour, peintre du roi Louis XV. (Paris, 1854), p. 34.

Champfleury. De La Tour. (Paris, 1855), p. 95.

Dréolle de Nodon, Ernest. Éloge biographique de Maurice-Quentin De La Tour, peintre du roi Louis XV. (Paris, 1856), pp. 59, 123.

de Goncourt, Edmond and Jules. French XVIII Century Painters. (1867), pp. 165, 171, 176 (first published Paris, 1867, fasc. 4, reprinted New York, 1948; second edition, 1873, pp. 271, 281-282).

Collection des livrets des anciennes expositions depuis 1673 jusqu'en 1800 (Paris: Liepmannssohn et Dufour, 1869), vol. I, pp. 29-30, no. 118.

Desmaze, Charles. Le Reliquaire de M. Q. de La Tour. (Paris, 1874), p. 65.

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Tourneux, Maurice. La Tour, biographie critique. (Paris, 1904), p. 40.

de Fourcaud, Louis. "Le pastel et les pastellistes français au XVIIIe siècle." Revue de l'Art Ancien et Moderne 24 (1908), (no. 137, August 10, 1908), p. 118, n. 1; (no. 138, September 10, 1908), pp. 222-23.

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Wildenstein, Georges. "Un chef-d'oeuvre inédit de La Tour: le portrait du Président de Rieux." La renaissance de l'art français et des industries de luxe 2, no. 3 (April 1919), pp. 128-35.

Gillet, Louis. "Le repatriement de La Tour. Les pastels de Saint-Quentin au Louvre." Revue de Deux Mondes 52 (July 1, 1919), pp. 143, 145-46, 148, 163.

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Ratouis de Limay, Paul. "L'Exposition de pastels français du XVIIe et du XVIIIe siècle." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 5th per., vol. 15, no. 778 (June 1927), pp. 325-26, 328.

Besnard, Albert. La Tour, La vie et l'oeuvre de l'artiste. (Paris: 1928), pp. 24 -25, 34, 163, figs. 35, 37, 40 (catalogue by Georges Wildenstein).

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Zahar, Marcel. "Louis XV Exhibit Reveals the Period in Notable Works." The Art News (New York, July 14, 1934), p. 1, ill.

Limay, Paul Ratouis de. Le Pastel en Frence au XVIIIe siècle (Paris: Éditions Baudinière, 1946), pp. 31, 140, 144, 209-10, pl. xi.

Florisoone, Michel. La peinture française: le dix-huitième siècle. (Paris, 1948), p. 77.

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Verlet, Pierre. Les meubles français du XVIIIe siècle (Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1956), pp. 14, 15.

Hargreaves-Mawdsley, W. N. A History of Legal Dress in Europe until the End of the Eighteenth Century (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963), pp. 28, pl. 8.

Gimpel, René. Diary of an Art Dealer, 1918-39. (New York, 1963), pp. 76, 85, 105, 117, 140.

Thuillier, Jacques and Albert Châtelet. French Painting from Le Nain to Fragonard. (Geneva, 1964), pp. 191-92, ill., p. 193.

Mariette, P.J. Abecedario. 6 vols. (Paris: J. B. Dumoulin, 1859-1860; repr. and annotated by Ph. de Chennevières and A. de Montaiglon, Paris: F. De Nobele,1966), vol. III, pp. 66-78.

de Goncourt, Edmond and Jules de Goncourt. La Tour, étude contenant quatre dessins gravés à l'eau-forte. (Paris, 1867), pp. 6, 10 [essay also published in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts (1967), pp. 127-53, 350-71].

Verlet, Pierre. French Furniture and Interior Decoration of the 18th Century (London: Barrie and Rockcliffe, 1967), pp. 14-15, fig. 10.

Bury, Adrian. Maurice-Ouentin de La Tour: The Greatest Pastel Portraitist. (London: 1971), unpaginated, text precedes pl. 14.

Walker, John. Portraits, 1000 Years. (New York: 1983), p. 190.

Diderot et l'Art de Boucher à David: les Salons, 1759-1781, exh. Cat. (Paris: Editions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 1984), p. 301.

Monnier, Geneviève. Pastels from the 16th to the 20th Century. (New York: 1984), p. 28, ill. p. 29.

Richards, Louise S. "A Study for a Pastel Portrait of Jacques Dumont Le Romain." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 71, 10 (December 1984), pp. 343, 345.

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Hunter-Stiebel, Penelope. Chez Elle, Chez Lui: At Home in 18th Century France. (New York, 1987), p. 15.

Debrie, Christine. Maurice-Quentin De La Tour, "Peintre de portraits au pastel", 1704-1788, au Musée Antoine Lécuyer de Saint-Quentin. (Saint-Quentin, 1991), pp. 30, 61, 76.

Monnier, Geneviève. "Pastel: Its Genesis and Evolution to the Twentieth Century." In Drawing: Masters and Methods: Raphael to Redon. Papers Presented to the Ian Woodner Master Drawings Symposium at The Royal Academy of Arts, London. Diana Dethloff, ed. (London: Philip Wilson Publishers in association with the Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1992), p. 165.

Monnier, Geneviève. "Maurice-Quentin de La Tour." The Grove Dictionary of Art 18 (New York, 1996), p. 841.

Jaffé, David. Summary Catalogue of European Paintings in the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1997), p. 71, ill.

Fredericksen, Burton B., et al. Masterpieces of the J. Paul Getty Museum: Paintings (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1997), pp. 82-83, no. 45, ill., entry by Denise Allen.

Walsh, John, and Deborah Gribbon. The J. Paul Getty Museum and Its Collections: A Museum for the New Century (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1997), p. 125, ill.

The J. Paul Getty Museum Handbook of the Collections. 4th ed. (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1997), pp. 128-29, ill.

Debrie, Christine. "Maurice Quentin de La Tour: Peintre de portraits au pastel et Peintre du Roi (1704-1788)." Versalia, no. 1. (1998), pp. 23-24.

Debrie, Christine and Xavier Salmon. Maurice-Quentin de La tour: Prince des pastellistes. (Paris, 2000), pp. 111-16, figs. 48-50; p. 139, notes 63-74.

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The J. Paul Getty Museum Handbook of the Collections. 6th ed. (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2001), pp. 128-29, ill.

Shelley, Marjorie. "An Aesthetic Overview of the Pastel Palette: 1500-1900." In The Broad Spectrum: Studies in the Materials, Techniques, and Conservation of Color on Paper. Edited by Harriet K. Stratis and Britt Salvesen. (London: Archetype Publications, 2002), p. 7, figures 1.6 and 1.7.

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Education Resources
Education Resources

Education Resource

Subjects

Grades

Format

The Poetry of Chinoiserie

Students examine works of art that incorporate Asian export objects, and then respond to them using Japanese haiku poems.

Visual Arts; History–Social Science

6-8; 9-12

Single Class Lesson

"Reading" Objects and Their Owners

In this lesson students examine the connection between a person's home and his or her personality.

Visual Arts; English–Language Arts; ESL (English as a Second Language)

Adult Learners

Single Class Lesson