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.

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, Austrian, 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.

Bellier de la Chavignerie, Émile and Louis Auvray. Dictionnaire général des artistes de l'École française. 3 vols. (Paris, 1882), pp. 918-19 [facs. Reprint in 5 vols., New York 1979; entry in vol. 3, 1885].

de Grosville, Harduin. "Pastel de La Tour vus en Normandie." Bulletin de la Société. Académique de Laon XXIX (1892-1894), p. 422.

Lady Dilke (Emilia Francis Strong Dilke). French Painters of the XVIIIth Century (London: G. Bell and Sons, 1899), p. 165.

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.

Dumont-Wilden, L. Le Portrait en France. (Brussels, 1909), p. 211.

Keim, Albert. Quentin La Tour. (Paris, 1911), p. 29.

Wildenstein, Georges. Un Pastel de La Tour: Le Président de Rieux. (Paris, 1919).

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.

Alfassa, Paul. "Maurice-Quentin de la Tour, à propos de l'exposition au Louvre des pastels de Saint-Quentin." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 4th per., vol. 15, no. 699 (April-June, 1919), pp. 131, 136ff, ill.

Réau, Louis. Histoire de la peinture française au XVIIIe siècle. vol. 1/2 (Paris & Brussels, 1925), pp. 75-76, pl. 56.

"Pour le Musée de La Tour à Saint-Quentin: L'exposition des pastel français." Le Bulletin de l'art, no. 739 (June 1927), p. 181, ill. (exhibition installation shot).

Heywood, Florence. "The La Tour Pastels of St. Quentin." Apollo 5 (Jan-June, 1927), p. 248.

Vitry, Paul. "Les Pastels du XVIIe et du XVIIIe siècles français à la Galerie Charpentier." Beaux-Arts 5, no. 11 (June 1, 1927), p. 161.

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).

Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler. vol. 22. (Leipzig, 1928), pp. 423, 424.

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.

Francastel, Pierre. Histoire de la peinture française. (Paris and Brussels, 1955), vol. 1., p. 139.

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.

Wakefield, David. French Eighteenth-Century Painting. (London, 1984), p. 68.

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.

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.

Goodman, Elise. The Portraits of Madame de Pompadour: Celebrating the Femme Savante. (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 2000), pp. 82, 84, fig. 42.

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.

Pradère, Alexandre. Charles Cressent: sculpteur, ébéniste du Régent (Dijon: Éditions Faton, 2003), pp. 66-67, ill.

Allen, Denise, et al. Masterpieces of Painting in the J. Paul Getty Museum. Rev. ed. (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, with Thames & Hudson, 2003), pp. 78-79, no. 42, ill., entry by Denise Allen.

Salmon, Xavier. Le voleur d'âmes: Maurice Quentin de La Tour. Versailles: Éditions Artlys, 2004, pp. 40, 122-23, fig. 1.

Salmon, Xavier. "La rançon del la gloire." L'Objet d'Art 395 (October 2004): 41-55, p. 48, fig. 3.

Maurice Quentin de La Tour: Pastelliste des Lumières: L'exposition de Versailles, les collections du Louvre et du musée Antoine Lécuyer. Dossier de l'Art N. 111 (Paris: Faton, 2004), pp. 52-53, pp. 52-53.

Baillio, Joseph, et al., eds. The Arts of France from François Ier to Napoléon Ier: A Centennial Celebration of Wildenstein's Presence in New York, exh. cat. (New York: Wildenstein and Company, 2005), pp. 55, 72, no. 35, ill.

Jeffares, Neil, s.v. "La Tour, Maurice-Quentin de." In Dictionary of Pastellists Before 1800 (London: Unicorn Press, 2006), p. 302-03, ill.

Cartsen, Robert K. "The Best Pastel Collections in the U.S." The Pastel Journal, no. 46 (October 2006), p. 48, fig.

Rosenberg, Pierre. Only in America: One Hundred Paintings in American Museums Unmatched in European Collections. Susan Wise, trans. (Milan: Skira, 2006), pp. 130-31, ill.

Tarabra, Daniela. European Art of the Eighteenth Century. Rosanna M. Giammanco Frongia, trans. (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2006), p. 101, ill, cover ill.

Hoisington, Rena. "Maurice-Quentin de La Tour and the Triumph of Pastel Painting in Eighteenth-Century France." Ph.D. diss. (New York University, Institute of Fine Arts, 2006), pp. 114-22, pl. 50.

The J. Paul Getty Museum Handbook of the Collections. 7th ed. (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2007), pp. 120-21, ill.

Auricchio, Laura. Adélaïde Labille-Guiard: Artist in the Age of Revolution (Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2009), p. 11, ill. p. 10, fig. 5.

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Jeffares, Neil. "La Tour, Le président de Rieux." In Dictionary of pastellists before 1800, http://www.pastellists.com/Essays/LaTour_Rieux.pdf (accessed November 10, 2015; pdf dated March 8, 2015), pp. 1-5, ill.

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Prat, Louis-Antoine.  Le Dessin français au XVIIe siècle (Paris: Louvre éditions : Somogy, 2017), p. 231, pl. 396.

Education Resources
Education Resources

Education Resource

Subjects

Grades

Format

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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

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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