.jpg?maxwidth=3840)
Lot 52
Louis Jean François Lagrenée I (Paris 1725-1805)
The Union of Painting and Sculpture
Closed4 June 2009
Price Realised
USD 92,500
More Information
Specialist note
This painting and its pendant, Justice were exhibited at the 1769 Salon where Gabriel de Saint-Aubin made his characteristic drawings of them in a small sketchbook.
Lagrenée's choice of subject may have been inspired by a painting in Louis XIV's collection entitled The Union of Painting and Drawing which at the time of its acquisition was attributed to Guido Reni. The union of painting and sculpture was also treated in a 1630s composition by Guercino. The subject, as the scales of Justice symbolize, indicates a more harmonious balance between the two arts than that of the Poussinist and Rubenist debate in the seventeenth century.
We are grateful to Colin Bailey for confirming this attribution, on the basis of photographs (written communication, 12 November 2008).
Lagrenée's choice of subject may have been inspired by a painting in Louis XIV's collection entitled The Union of Painting and Drawing which at the time of its acquisition was attributed to Guido Reni. The union of painting and sculpture was also treated in a 1630s composition by Guercino. The subject, as the scales of Justice symbolize, indicates a more harmonious balance between the two arts than that of the Poussinist and Rubenist debate in the seventeenth century.
We are grateful to Colin Bailey for confirming this attribution, on the basis of photographs (written communication, 12 November 2008).