Lot 93: Robert-Jacques-Francois Lefevre (1775-1830)

Portrait of a young woman
signed: R. Lefevre f.in orange gouache at the right centre. Inscribed Mendoza and indistinctly dated 1820 in white gouache at the left centre
gouache and watercolour, with gum arabic, within a drawn oval. A strip of paper added at the upper edge
268 x364mm

Robert Lefevre was renowned for his portraits of fashionable women. Trained in Caen then in Paris, under the direction of Jean-Baptiste Regnault, he contributed regularly to the Salons between 1791 and 1827. His Salon debut, in 1791, earned him several important commissions from Napoleon and his entourage. He soon became the Emperor's official portrait painter and maintained this official position following the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy, when in 1816, he was appointed 'Premier peintre du roi'. His Woman in Black, presented at the Salon of 1804, confirmed to the Parisian public his inclination and talent for this genre. Following this exhibition it became a mark of social distinction to sit for one's portrait in Lefevre's studio. Even Honore de Balzac paid homage to the painter in his novel Tenebreuse affaire,by having Lefevre paint the portrait of one of his characters, Mademoiselle Cinq-Cygne.