The Billiard Room | Nicolas Antoine Taunay | All | European Paintings | Collection Database | Works of Art

NotesThis small panel appears to have been the modello for the "Salle de billard" on canvas now in a private collection, Paris (52 x 70.6 cm, ill. Ref. Lebrun Jouve 2003, p. 70). The latter must have been the picture shown by Taunay at the Salon of 1808, as it is a larger, more detailed work with more stylishly dressed figures. In a smiliar manner Taunay's "Concert à la Concorde" (53 x 75 cm, present location unknown) was shown at the Salon of 1810; the modello for it, in a private collection, Paris, measures 16 x 22 cm, like the our panel.

Although the game of billiards was widely played during the 17th century, the subject as a genre theme was relatively rare. An early example is Chardin's Billiard Party in the Musée Carnavalet, Paris, which probably dates from the 1720s. Louis-Leopold Boilly painted "Un jeu de billard" which was also shown at the Salon 1808, no. 53. Boilly's first version of the subject is probably the example in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg, signed and dated 1807; a replica is in the Chrysler collection, Norfolk, and a third version is recorded in an engraving of 1828.

ProvenanceFrançois-Alexandre-Charles, comte de Perregaux, Paris (until d. 1838; his estate sale, Paris, December 8, 1841, no. 55, as "La Partie de billard," on wood, 16 x 22 cm, for Fr 261); Monsieur L. de Saint-Vincent (until 1852; his estate sale, Hôtel des Ventes, Colin and Vallée, Paris, March 8–9, 1852, no. 85, as "Salle de billard. Joueurs et galerie," for Fr 229); Jules Burat (by 1860–1885; his estate sale, Chevallier and Féral, Paris, April 28–29, 1885, no. 172, as "Le Café des Arts," on wood, 16 x 22 cm); Monsieur E. H . . . (until 1951; his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, March 9, 1951, no. 56, for Fr 500,000 to Linsky); Mr. and Mrs. Jack Linsky, New York (1951–until his d. 1980); The Jack and Belle Linsky Foundation, New York (1980–82)

Exhibition History

Paris. Galerie Martinet. "Tableaux et dessins de l'école française, principalement du XVIIIe siècle, tirés de collections d'amateurs," 1860, no. 254 (as "Le Café des Arts," lent by M. Burat).

Paris. Palais de la Présidence du Corps Législatif. "Ouvrages de la peinture exposés au profit de la colonisation de l'Algérie par les Alsaciens-Lorrains," April 23, 1874, no. 478 (as "Le Café des Arts," 17 x 24 cm, lent by M. Burat).

References

Vente de la précieuse collection de tableaux de feu M. le comte Perregaux. Ancienne galerie Le Brun, Paris. December 8, 1841, p. 83, no. 55, this picture, by Taunay, is described as "La partie de billard," on wood, 16 x 22 cm; annotated as sold for Fr 261.

W. Bürger [Théophile Thoré]. "Exposition de tableaux de l'école française ancienne tirés de collections d'amateurs." Gazette des beaux-arts 7 (September 15, 1860), pp. 356, 358.

Théodore Lejeune. Guide théorique et pratique de l'amateur de tableaux. 1, Paris, 1864, p. 389, lists "La partie de billard" by Taunay in the L. de Saint-Vincent sale, where it fetched Fr 229; connects it with the picture later in the Burat collection.

Explication des ouvrages de peinture exposés au profit de la colonisation de l'Algérie par les Alsaciens-Lorrains. Exh. cat.Paris, 1874, p. 83, no. 478, record the dimensions as 17 x 24 cm [the Burat sale cat. cites them as 16 x 22 cm] and note that this café was, at the end of the preceeding century, frequented by artists; identify the man in the red cloak as [Jacques-Louis] David, the man who is preparing to play with his left hand as Girodet, and the man offering a ball to a personnage seen from the back as Gros.

Théodore Guédy. Nouveau dictionnaire des peintres anciens et contemporains. Paris, 1882, p. 116, erroneously lists Taunay's "La partie de billard" in the 1841 Perregaux sale as having sold for Fr 371.

Tableaux anciens des maîtres français du XVIIIe siècle . . . Galerie Georges Petit, Paris. April 28–29, 1885, p. 52, no. 172, describe lot 172 as "Le Café des Arts" by Taunay, on wood, 16 x 22 cm; note that this café was a rendez-vous for artists at the end of the 18th century, that the setting is the billiard room, and that it is supposed that the man with the wide-brimmed hat is [Jacques-Louis] David; observe that "ce précieux petit tableau" was celebrated for the interest of its subject and the refinement of its execution.

H. Mireur. Dictionnaire des ventes d'art . . . 7, Paris, 1912, p. 135, cites Taunay's "La partie de billard" in the Perregaux and Saint-Vincent sales and "Le café des arts" in the 1885 Burat sale.

Affonso d'Escragnolle Taunay. Nicolau Antonio Taunay: Documentos sobre a sua vida e sua obra. Rio de Janeiro, 1916, p. 86, lists as three separate entries this picture as the "Café des arts" in the Burat collection, the "Partie de billards" in the Perregaux sale, and the "Partie de billards" in the Saint-Vincent sale.

E. Bénézit. Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs. 8, Paris, 1955, p. 234.

Katharine Baetjer in The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1984, p. 361 (appendix).

Katharine Baetjer in "The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Addenda to the Catalogue." Metropolitan Museum Journal 21 (1986), pp. 161–63, no. A.3., ill., erroneously identifies this picture with the "Salle de billard" that Taunay exhibited in the Salon of 1808 and notes that another example of this rare subject, painted by Louis-Leopold Boilly, was exhibited as no. 53 in the same Salon (examples in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg, and in the Chrysler Collection [now Chrysler Museum, Norfolk]).

Claudine Lebrun Jouve. Nicolas-Antoine Taunay (1755–1830). Paris, 2003, pp. 72, 253–54, 266, no. P. 546, ill., identifies a larger picture of this subject in a private collection, Paris (52 x 70.6 cm, on canvas) as the one in the Salon of 1808, and identifies our picture as the modello for it, exhibited in Paris in 1860 and 1874.

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