CIRCLE OF BARON FRANÇOIS PASCAL SIMON GERARD (ROME 1770-1837 PARIS)

The Three Ages of Man is a reduced copy of the painting now in the collections of the musée Condé at the château de Chantilly. The original (measuring 255 x 322 cm.) was created in 1806, exhibited to much acclaim in the Paris Salon of 1808, exhibited once again in the Decennial competition of 1810 and immediately thereafter shipped to Caroline Murat, Queen of Naples and youngest of the Emperor Napoleon's sisters, who had purchased it for her collection; by the end of that year it was installed in the Royal Palace in Naples. After the disgrace of the Murats and Caroline's escape to Austria, the picture was purchased by the Prince of Salerno, and acquired in 1854 by his son-in-law, the Duc d'Aumale, châtelain of the Château de Chantilly.