Lot n° 1
Estimation :
10000 - 15000
EUR
Result without fees
Result
: 8 500EUR
REDISCOVERY OF THE ALBUM "PORTALIS" : COLLECTION OF DRAWINGS - Lot 1
REDISCOVERY OF THE ALBUM "PORTALIS" : COLLECTION OF DRAWINGS AND WATERCOLOURS [DRAWING]. Album of drawings, washes and watercolours On paper and on tracing, some drawings captioned and/or signed.
France, drawings dated 1830 to 1865
Provenance: 1. This album was most likely collected by a member of the Portalis family. There are three drawings signed Conrad Portalis and four drawings signed Roger Portalis. There is an older drawing signed "Le vicomte Frédéric Portalis, conseiller à la cour royale" (no. 45). It should also be noted that Marie Joséphine Portalis, aunt of Roger Portalis, married Baron Pierre Claude Mechior Cochet de Savigny de saint Valier (1781-1855): several drawings are signed "B[aro]n de Savigny" or "De Savigny". They had a son Fréderic Melchior Cochet de Savigny de saint Valier (1828-1902) and a daughter Augusta Marie Cochet de Savigny de saint Valier, immediate cousins of Roger Portalis. 2. France, private collection.
Oblong album, with 85 leaves, consisting of 90 drawings and watercolours (some leaves have several drawings), pasted or fixed on the sheets of paper, sometimes framed with a border in brown ink, most of them on paper, some drawings on strong cardboard, one drawing on tracing paper (drawings no. 24 and no. 69) 24 and no. 69)
Bound in aubergine glazed calf, smooth spine decorated with gilt irons and gilt lettering, framed with romantic decoration consisting of cold scrolls, title "Album" in gilt letters in the centre of the upper board, edges gilt (binding to be restored, upper board detached; some spotting).
Size of leaves: 285 x 213 mm; drawings laminated or attached to these leaves, of various sizes.
Attached: two drawings laminated to unbound leaves: (1) Marlet. From the modern caption: "Marchande de macarons. Champs Elysées" (?) (dim. 200 x 148 mm) [Marlet's signature is added in pencil by a modern hand]; (2) Marlet. The porter at the Halle - 1810. Fountain of the Innocents (dim. 170 x 245 mm). Jean Marlet (1771-1847) was a painter and engraver: after the Revolution he joined Jean-Baptiste Regnault's studio and was among the first artists to practice lithography.
Interesting album of 90 drawings mounted or fixed in an album approaching an "Album amicorum", but there is no dedication or specific theme. We rather think it is a compilation album, containing drawings for a member or close friend of the Portalis family, probably a former possession of Roger Portalis.
The Portalis family is a noble family from Provence, whose most famous representative is Jean-Etienne-Marie Portalis (1746-1807), one of the drafters of the Civil Code. Among the descendants of Jean-Etienne-Marie Portalis, there are the counts and viscounts of Portalis, descendants of Joseph Portalis (1778-1858), including Frédéric Portalis (1804-1846), lawyer and magistrate, and his son Conrad Portalis (1840-1917), squadron leader and also painter and sculptor; then the branch of the Barons Portalis, descendants of Victoire Portalis (1764-1826) and Dominique Portalis (1759-1839), including Roger Portalis (1841-1912), engraver and art critic. Conrad Portalis and Roger Portalis are therefore cousins, strictly contemporary (one was born in 1840 and the other in 1841), both great-grandsons of Jean-Etienne-Marie Portalis. Both have an artistic temperament.
Many drawings are dated. The earliest date is found on a drawing by Renoux (no. 2) which bears the date 1830. Then there is a drawing attributed to Frederic de Portalis (no. 45), dated 1832. The following drawings are dated from the following decades, 1840-1880. The most recent drawing is captioned "Villa Doria Pamphili 3 April 65 (Roma) and dated 1865 (no. 56). Note the drawing with the following notation: "Trait de plume de M. Albert de Luynes au comité de l'Intérieur le 13 février 1849" (no. 30).
One might think that in view of the number of drawings signed "Portalis" (8 drawings in all: 1 drawing signed Frédéric Portalis (no. 45 (dated 1832); 3 drawings signed Conrad Portalis (no. 46; no. 55; no. 64); 4 drawings signed Roger Portalis (no. 6 (dated 1858); no. 32 (dated 11 January 1869); no. 42; no. 59), this album was certainly collected in the family circle, perhaps first by Frédéric Portalis, then his son Conrad Portalis, who was certainly in contact with his cousin Roger Portalis. The latter studied painting with Hippolyte Flandrin and was a pupil of the aquafortist Maxime Lalanne. Although Roger Portalis did not engrave much himself, he devoted himself to important research on 18th century French engraving and painting, the results of which he continued to publish until his death in 1912. He was a member of the Société des bibliophiles françois and a great connoisseur of bookbindings and calligraphy.
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