Lot 330: *Jacques-Andre Portail (1695-1759) two women reading a letter. Red and black chalk. 338 by 259mm.

*Jacques-Andre Portail (1695-1759) two women reading a letter. Red and black chalk. 338 by 259mm. Stylistically this drawing compares closely with the study entitled Le duo (see Xavier Salmon, Jacques-Andre Portail, Paris 1996, cat.28, illus), also executed in red and black chalk with a loose and nervous stroke. Portail's drawings were earnestly collected in his own day; led by the taste of the French court, 18th Century connoisseurs especially admired his landscapes and still lives. In the 19th Century his elegant representations of women conversing, or seated in the intimacy of a room, writing or reading at a desk or playing musical instruments, became very popular (see X. Salmon, op.cit, pp.5-7). They captured the graceful spirit of an era which had disappeared, f

*Jacques-Andre Portail (1695-1759)
two women reading a letter.
Red and black chalk.
338 by 259mm.
Stylistically this drawing compares closely with the study entitled Le duo (see Xavier Salmon, Jacques-Andre Portail, Paris 1996, cat.28, illus), also executed in red and black chalk with a loose and nervous stroke. Portail's drawings were earnestly collected in his own day; led by the taste of the French court, 18th Century connoisseurs especially admired his landscapes and still lives. In the 19th Century his elegant representations of women conversing, or seated in the intimacy of a room, writing or reading at a desk or playing musical instruments, became very popular (see X. Salmon, op.cit, pp.5-7). They captured the graceful spirit of an era which had disappeared, for which many felt nostalgic.
*Jacques-Andre Portail (1695-1759)
two women reading a letter.
Red and black chalk.
338 by 259mm.
Stylistically this drawing compares closely with the study entitled Le duo (see Xavier Salmon, Jacques-Andre Portail, Paris 1996, cat.28, illus), also executed in red and black chalk with a loose and nervous stroke. Portail's drawings were earnestly collected in his own day; led by the taste of the French court, 18th Century connoisseurs especially admired his landscapes and still lives. In the 19th Century his elegant representations of women conversing, or seated in the intimacy of a room, writing or reading at a desk or playing musical instruments, became very popular (see X. Salmon, op.cit, pp.5-7). They captured the graceful spirit of an era which had disappeared, for which many felt nostalgic.