Self-portrait with a Harp | Rose Adélaïde Ducreux | All | European Paintings | Collection Database | Works of Art

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Inscribed: (on book) Opera; (on music) Romance / par Benoit pollet / [?] tendre amour . . . marit je rend l[es] / ar—me je rend les ar—me / il est pour moi si plein de / charme que j`en atta . . . (verses from a song by Jean Joseph Benoît Pollet [1753–1818], which has not been identified)

Gallery LabelThis work has been identified with a self-portrait that Mademoiselle Ducreux exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1791. The sitter's graceful pose and the sumptuous fabrics were admired by contemporary critics.

NotesJean-Joseph-Benoît Pollet, whose music rests on the stand in this painting, was born about 1753 and died in Paris in 1818. He at first played and taught the zither and turned later to the harp, the instrument for which most of his music was composed [see R. Eitner, "Quellen-Lexikon der Musiker und Musikgelehrten . . . ," vol. 8, n.d. (ca. 1947), p. 13].

The young woman holds a tuning fork in her right hand and is in the process of tuning the instrument.

Provenancemarquis de S[affray], Paris (until d. 1897; sale, Marquis de S . . ., Féral and Breysse, Paris, May 10, 1898, no. 17, as "Une jeune musicienne. Debout, en pied, vêtue d'un élégant costume de soie du temps de Louis XVI. Les cheveux bouclés, poudrés et ornés d'un ruban bleu de ciel, elle est appuyée sur une harpe .... Attribué à Vestier. Toile. 1m 90 sur 1m 30," for Fr 25,500); [Gimpel & Wildenstein, Paris and New York, by 1902–05; sold to King]; David H. King Jr., New York (1905; sale, American Art Association, New York, March 31, 1905, no. 69, as "The Marquise de Saffray," by Vigée Le Brun, for $5,700 to an unnamed dealer); Susan Dwight Bliss, New York (by 1938–d. 1966)

Exhibition History

Paris. Salon. September 1791, no. 677 (as "Mlle. Ducreux jouant de la Harpe, peinte par elle-même. Portrait, en pied, grand comme nature").

London. Art Gallery of the Corporation of London. "Selection of Works by French and English Painters of the Eighteenth Century," April 22–July 26, 1902, no. 20 (as Madame Rolund [sic], by Vigée Le Brun, 73 x 51 in., lent by M. Wilderstein [sic]).

References

Abbé de Fontenay. Journal général de France (December 21, 1791), p. ? [Collection Deloynes, 1791, vol. 17, no. 450; this part of Collection Deloynes microfiche, Watson Library, is illegible; see transcription in Ref. Baillio 1988, p. 24], remarks that "Une nouvelle muse se montre avec éclat en se peignant sous les traits de Terpsichore . . . C'est Mademoiselle Ducreux jouant de la harpe. Le choix de l'attitude, la beauté des étoffes, les grâces du pinceau, et le bon effet distinguent ce charmant ouvrage".

La béquille de Voltaire au salon. Seconde et dernière promenade . . . Paris, An III de la liberté [1791], p. 34 [Collection Deloynes, Bibliothèque Nationale, Cabinet des Estampes, Paris, 1791, vol. 17, no. 439].

M. D . . . [P. Chéry?]. Explication et critique impartiale de toutes les peintures, sculptures, gravures, dessins, &c., exposés au Louvre d'après le décret de l'assemblée nationale, au mois de septembre 1791 . . . Paris, 1791, p. 61 [Collection Deloynes, Bibliothèque Nationale, Cabinet des Estampes, Paris, 1791, vol. 17, no. 436 (microfiche in MMA library)], describes it as "Un corps gracieux, des étoffes de la plus grand vérité".

André Foulon de Vaulx. "Antoine Vestier (1740–1824), notes et renseignements." Le Carnet historique et littéraire 7 (January–February 1901), p. 404, records in the sale of the Marquis de S[affray], Paris, May 10, 1898, no. 17, a portrait with a description and dimensions that fit the present work, attributed to Vestier.

M. L. E. [Vigée] Le Brun. Memoirs of Madame Vigée Lebrun. New York, 1903, p. 227, as "A Lady Playing the Harp"; lists it under "Sundry Portraits", among those painted after her departure from Paris in 1789.

American Art News 3 (March 25, 1905), ill. p. 5.

American Art News 3 (April 8, 1905), p. 7.

American Art News 4 (March 10, 1906), pp. 1, 4, discusses a lawsuit brought by Gimpel & Wildenstein against D. H. King for compensation for a group of pictures, including the present one.

American Art News (March 17, 1906), p. 4, comments on the settlement out of court between Gimpel & Wildenstein and King.

Pierre de Nolhac. Madame Vigée-Le Brun, peintre de la reine Marie-Antoinette, 1755–1842. Paris, 1908, p. 159, lists this picture as "Mademoiselle Roland," shown at the 1902 Guildhall exhibition, with dimensions as 2m x 1m40.

W. H. Helm. Vigée-Lebrun, 1755–1842: Her Life, Works, and Friendships. London, 1915, pp. 111, 202, doubts that the picture exhibited at the Guildhall in 1902 represents Mlle Roland; as owned by Wildenstein.

André Blum. Madame Vigée-Lebrun, peintre des grandes dames du XVIIIe siècle. Paris, [1919], pp. 56, 100, 105, no. 2o, ill. opp. p. 8, as Mlle Roland, collection Wildenstein; lists among portraits done in Rome one of Mlle Roland, later Lady Wellesley, owned by Wildenstein [possibly our picture]; lists a portrait of [n.b., field capacity inadequate for entire text].

Max von Boehn. Die Mode: Menschen und Moden im 18. Jahrhundert. Munich, 1923, p. 243, ill., as "Harfenspielerin" by Vigée Le Brun, in a section dealing with her work of the late 1780s.

Max von Boehn. Die Mode: Menschen und Moden im 18. Jahrhundert. 5th ed. 1965, ill. p. 213.

"Portrait of Mademoiselle Roland (Later the Marchioness Wellesley) by Madame Vigée Le Brun." Duits Quarterly no. 9 (Winter 1965), p. 16, notes that the picture exhibited in 1912 [sic] at the London Guildhall "purported to be" of Mlle Roland but "as only one portrait is recorded in the Souvenirs it was probably confused with the Hoppner portrait of Lady Mornington [Mlle Roland] with a harp".

Robert L. Herbert. Letter to Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann. June 30, 1970, judging from a photograph attributes this picture to Vigée Le Brun, finding the facial type, the hands, and the relationship of the figure to the background very characteristic of her work.

Pierre Quarré. Letter to David Lomax. August 28, 1973, [written on his behalf by Monique Geiger] considers it not a certain work by Vigée; sees possible connections with Vestier and finds the handling of the drapery very close to the work of Trinquesse.

Joseph Baillio. Letter to Mary Ann Wurth Harris. April 5, 1975, suggests identification of this picture with one exhibited by Mlle Ducreux at the Salon of 1791 (no. 677, "Mlle Ducreux jouant de la Harpe . . .").

Albert P. de Mirimonde. Letter to Mary Ann W. Harris. June 21, 1975, identifies the music as a ballad by Jean-Joseph-Benoît Pollet (1753–1818); finds it "astonishing" that an elegant lady whose costume dates from about 1775–87 would play an instrument that was out of style by 1760–70; considers the attribution to Vestier most likely.

Joseph Baillio. "Une artiste méconnue: Rose Adélaïde Ducreux." L'Oeil no. 399 (October 1988), pp. 21, 23, 25, ill. (color), identifies this picture with the life-size self-portrait with a harp exhibited by Rose Ducreux at the Salon of 1791; cites and quotes Refs. D . . . 1791; La Béquille de Voltaire 1791; and Observations tirées . . . 1971.

Jean-François Heim, Claire Béraud, and Philippe Heim. Les salons de peinture de la Révolution française, 1789–1799. Paris, 1989, p. 194.

Margaret A. Oppenheimer. "Women Artists in Paris, 1791–1814." PhD diss., Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, 1996, p. 172.

Melissa Hyde in Anne Vallayer-Coster: Painter to the Court of Marie-Antoinette. Exh. cat., Dallas Museum of Art. New Haven, 2002, pp. 74, 85, ill. (color and black and white).

Olivier Blanc. Portraits de femmes artistes et modèles à l'époque de Marie-Antoinette. Paris, 2006, p. 86 n. 146, ill. p. 84 (color).

Sébastien Allard in Citizens and Kings: Portraits in the Age of Revolution, 1760–1830. Exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts. London, 2007, p. 311 [French ed., Portraits publics, portraits privés, 1770–1830, Paris, 2006, p. 344].

Nathalie Lemoine-Bouchard. Les peintres en miniature actifs en France, 1650–1850. Paris, 2008, p. 209, ill.

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