Sale
7918
Living with Design: The Collections of Walter Lees and Mr NC.
16 July 2010
London, King Street
Louis Carrogis, called Carmontelle (Paris 1717-1806)
Portrait of the Baron de Talleyrand, full-length, in a landscape
with inscriptions 'Mr. le Baron de Talleyrand' (on the mount, recto) and '389' (on the mount, verso)
black and red chalk, watercolour, watermark Villedary
12 x 7 in. (30.8 x 18 cm.)
Louis Carrogis de Carmontelle; his sale, Paris, 17 April 1807, part of lot 22.
Chevalier Richard de Lédans; his sale, Paris, 3 November 1816.
Pierre de La Mésangère; his sale, Paris, 18 July 1831, part of lot 304, where purchased by
John Duff; and by descent.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 15 December 1992, lot 181.
R. de Lédans, Catalogue des Portraits dessinés et peints par Louis Carrogis de Carmontelle, Paris, 1807, manuscript, p. 89, no. 323, as part of album IX.
The sitter, Louis-Anne Marie, Baron de Talleyrand (1738-1799) was the uncle of the Prince de Talleyrand. He rose through the ranks of the army to become Maréchal de Camp in 1781 and his high rank resulted in his appointment as Ambassador to Naples in 1788, the year before his death. Like lot 129, the present drawing belongs to the group of Carmontelles purchased by Pierre de La Mésangère in 1816, some of which are now at Chantilly. The Chantilly group includes a portrait of the Baron de Talleyrand's wife, presumably executed as a pendant to the present portrait, and also a portrait of his brother.