Jean Jacques Bachelier (French, 1724-1806). Mimi, le chien favorite de madame de Pompadour, 1762. Oil and encaustic on c...

Description

Jean Jacques Bachelier (French, 1724-1806)
Mimi, le chien favorite de madame de Pompadour, 1762
Oil and encaustic on canvas
9-7/8 x 13 inches (25.1 x 33.0 cm)

PROPERTY OF A JAPANESE COLLECTOR



PROVENANCE:
Collection of the Marquise de Pompadour;
Collection of Le Breton(?);
La Galerie Marcus, Paris;
Galerie Heim-Gairac, Paris, between 1978 and 1982.


EXHIBITED:
Versailles, "Jean-Jacques Bachelier, 1724-1806, peintre du Roi et de Madame de Pompadour," November 23, 1999-March 19, 2000, no. 105.

LITERATURE:
H. Mouradian, et. al., Jean-Jacques Bachelier, 1724-1806, peintre du Roi et de Madame de Pompadour, Somogy: Musee Lambinet, Versailles, France, 1999, no. 105, illustrated.

According to an entry on the present painting in the 1999 exhibition catalogue on Jean-Jacques Bachelier, an inscription on the reverse of the painting's original canvas prior to its lining indicated that it was produced in huile et cire. This technique of painting with encaustic (pigment suspended in hot wax) was relatively new to Bachelier, who had first used it for a submission to the Salon in 1761. However, Bachelier's specific method for using oil pigment in addition to encaustic in his creation of this charming portrait of Madame de Pompadour's toy spaniel, Mimi, is unknown, since in most encaustic paintings wax replaces the oil entirely.

Mimi is perhaps better known in her more sedate depiction, seated at the feet of her mistress, in François Boucher's portrait of Madame de Pompadour of 1756 now in the collection of the Alte Pinacothek, Munich.

We are grateful to Hélène Mouradian, co-author of the 1999 Bachelier exhibition catalogue, for confirming the attribution to Bachelier and her gracious assistance in providing materials indispensable to the cataloguing of this lot.








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