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artist or maker

Lemonnier, Anicet Charles Gabriel (b.1743, d.1824)

Date

c 1770

dated to subject

Place of production

Paris, France

Medium

oil on canvas

Type of object

paintings

Accession number

24.2012

Oil painting of a landscape with four figures, a female figure (Peace?) and a man (Choiseul) seated in centre foreground with two other semi-naked figues (Discord with snakes, and Envy? - or Calumny - is she holding a mask?) departing to the left. The woman wears a white dress with a blue sash and floral head band. The man wears a yellow coat. They hold a peace treaty between them which Choiseul is studying. There is a rocky landscape with barren trees to the left, with steps, folliage and a corinthian colonnade surmounted with classical statuary in the background to the right.

This small oil painting combines anecdotal realism and elevated allegory in an affectionate depiction of the duc de Choiseul in exile. The soldier, diplomat and statesman Étienne-François, comte de Stainville, duc de Choiseul was Louis XV’s foreign minister from 1758 to 1761 and 1766 to 1770 but, after the death of the king’s mistress Madame de Pompadour, who had elevated and supported him, he lost the support of the king who accused him of warmongering and exiled him to his estates at Chanteloup in the Loire valley. He made his exile as pleasurable as possible, beautifying his gardens and welcoming hoards of friends and visitors. Louis XVI allowed him to return to Paris in 1774. Lemonnier shows the disgraced statesman informally dressed and at ease, sitting on a garden bench reading a peace treaty. The female figure beside him represents Innocence. Jealousy and Slander retreat into the shadows.

Commentary

The Rouen-born artist Anicet Lemonnier trained under Jean-Baptiste Descamps (1714-91) at the École des Beaux-Arts in Rouen and then under Joseph-Marie Vien (1716-1809). He won the Prix de Rome in 1772 and found success as a painter of historical subjects, arts administrator and educator both before and after the French Revolution. His best-known work is the nostalgic An evening at Madame Geoffrin’s salon (1812, Musée de Rueil-Malmaison) which includes the duc de Choiseul among the guests.

The soldier, diplomat and statesman Étienne-François, comte de Stainville, duc de Choiseul (1719 –1785) was Foreign Minister of France between 1758 and 1761 and between 1766 and 1770. After the death in 1764 of the king’s official mistress Madame de Pompadour, who had elevated and supported him, his position became precarious. In 1770, following the Falkland Crisis in which the Louis XV perceived him to have encouraged war, the king exiled him to his estates at Chanteloup. Louis XVI allowed Choiseul to return to Paris in 1774.

The following year Choiseul built a pagoda at Chanteloup in honour of the friends and admirers who had continued to visit him during his exile. Apart from stylistic grounds (the classicizing but stormy work recalling works by the likes of Vien and Claude-Joseph Vernet), the suggested date of 1770-1774 is based on the fact that Choiseul was in exile between those years and that Lemonnier left France in 1774.

Research would be needed to tease out the full significance of this seemingly admiring allegory. What is the fury on the left carrying? While the female figure at Choiseul’s side presumably represents Peace, might the artist also have intended her to hint at his lovely wife Louise-Honorine Crozat du Châtel or his beloved mistress the comtesse de Brionne? The Peace Treaty Choiseul is studying might refer both to the peacefulness of his exile which he famously made as pleasurable as possible, indulging in the gardens and welcoming hoards of friends and visitors. However, it is also ironic in view of the bellicose stance of which the king and the ‘pacific party’ had accused him.

Juliet Carey, 2018

Other exhibition labels

This small oil painting combines realism and allegory in an affectionate depiction of the duc de Choiseul in exile. Choiseul was Louis XV’s foreign minister but, after the death of the king’s mistress Madame de Pompadour, who had elevated and supported him, he lost the support of the king who dismissed him in 1770. The Rouen-born artist Lemonnier shows the disgraced statesman at ease in the gardens of his estate at Chanteloup. He is reading a peace treaty. The female figure beside him represents Innocence and the figures of Jealousy and Slander retreat into the shadows.

Physical description

Dimensions (mm) / weight (mg)

322 x 390

Signature & date

signed not dated, lower left: Le Monnier inv + piNt

Inscriptions

Sur l'iNNOCENCE UN grand homme s'appuye
la Jalouse Fureur, l'affreuse calommie,

parmi ses eNNemis reviennent a la cour,
et le Souvenir de sa vie
peut eMBellier pus lui le plus triste sejour
Inscription
lower left to lower right, in two columns

History

Provenance

Acquired from Galerie Talarbadon et Gautier, Paris, 2012 by a Rothschild Family Trust.

Collection

Waddesdon (Rothschild Foundation)
On loan since 2012

Other details

Subject person

Étienne-François, duc de Choiseul, Pictured

Indexed terms

Person as Subject

Choiseul, Étienne-François, duc de (b.1719, d.1785)

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