A Pasha Having His Mistress's Portrait Painted (Primary Title)
Carle van Loo, French, 1705 - 1765 (Artist)
Though set in an imaginary Turkish location, this painting probably alludes to a famous story from antiquity. Apelles, the greatest painter of his day, fell in love with Campaspe, the mistress of Alexander the Great. Apelles’s portrait of her was so beautiful that Alexander gave her to the artist, preferring to the painting to the original. The painter is self portrait of van Loo and the model is Christina Somis, who married van Loo in 1733.
Signed, lower left: "Carlo Van Loo"
Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund
"Wyeth, Parrish, Rockwell and the European Narrative Tradition", Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, MA, June 9 - October 28, 2018
"America Collects Eighteenth-Century French Painting", National Gallery of Art, May 21 - August 20, 2017
“French Genre Painting in the Age of Watteau, Chardin, and Fragonard,” National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, June 6-Sep. 7, 2003; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, Oct. 12, 2003-Jan. 11, 2004
“Falling in Love Again,” VMFA, Philip Morris Gallery, July 1-Sep. 25, 1994
“A Glimpse of Rococo France: ‘The Amorous Proposal’ by Francois Le Moyne,” Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA, April 4-June 13, 1987
“Orientalism: The Near East in French Painting, 1800-1880,” Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, N.Y., Nov. 4-Dec. 23, 1982
“Encounter I: Space,” Artmobile exhibition, Fall 1970-Spring 1971
“The World of Voltaire,” University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, March 30 - May 11, 1969, Cat. 89.
“The Age of Elegance and Grandeur,” Artmobile exhibition, Sep. 1967-Jan. 1968
Salon of 1737, Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Paris
"America Collects Eighteenth-Century French Painting", National Gallery of Art, May 21 - August 20, 2017
“French Genre Painting in the Age of Watteau, Chardin, and Fragonard,” National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, June 6-Sep. 7, 2003; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, Oct. 12, 2003-Jan. 11, 2004
“Falling in Love Again,” VMFA, Philip Morris Gallery, July 1-Sep. 25, 1994
“A Glimpse of Rococo France: ‘The Amorous Proposal’ by Francois Le Moyne,” Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA, April 4-June 13, 1987
“Orientalism: The Near East in French Painting, 1800-1880,” Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, N.Y., Nov. 4-Dec. 23, 1982
“Encounter I: Space,” Artmobile exhibition, Fall 1970-Spring 1971
“The World of Voltaire,” University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, March 30 - May 11, 1969, Cat. 89.
“The Age of Elegance and Grandeur,” Artmobile exhibition, Sep. 1967-Jan. 1968
Salon of 1737, Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Paris
By 1766, Jean de Julienne, Paris (1686 – 1766). [1] March 30, 1767, Presle Collection, Paris. [2] By 1801, Collection of François-Antoine Robit (1752 – 1815); [3] May 1801, Empress Josephine, Malmaison (1763 – 1814); [4] By 1824, inherited by son, Prince Eugène de Beauharnais, 1st Duke of Leuchtenberg (1781-1824), Munich; [5] By 1835, descent to son, Auguste de Beauharnais, 2nd Duke of Leuchtenberg (1810-1835), Munich; [6] By 1851, descent to brother Maximilian de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg (1817-1852), Munich and then St. Petersburg, Russia. [7] By 1909, George C. Thomas, Philadelphia (1839 -1909). [8] November 1924, Samuel T. Freeman & Co. [9]. By 1959, Newhouse Galleries, New York; Purchased by VMFA, Richmond, VA, accessioned September 23, 1959. [10]
[1] According to sources, the work was painted for de Juilenne. See Pierre Rosenberg and Marie-Catherine Sahut, Carle Van Loo: Premier peintre du roi (Nice: 1977), Cat. No. 53, p. 44.
[2] See Pierre Rosenberg and Marie-Catherine Sahut, Carle Van Loo: Premier peintre du roi (Nice: 1977), Cat. No. 53, p. 44.
[3] According to file, painting was possibly acquired by Dominique-Vivant Denon for Empress Josephine, Sale of the collection of François-Antoine Robit, May 11, 1801, la grande salle de vente, rue de Clèry, Paris, France.
[4] The painting appeared in inventories of Malmaison. Catalogue des tableaux de sa Majeste l’Imperatice Josephine dans la galerie et appartements de son palais de Malmaison, Paris, Didot jeune, 1811, p. 18, No. 144.
[5] See Pinkney Near, “A Turkish Fantasy,” Arts in Virginia, Vol. VIII, No. 3, Spring 1968, p. 24.
[6] See Catalogue (Gëmalde Sammlung in Munchen) of the Collection of Dom Augusto, Herzog von Leuchtenberg, Munich, 1835, p. 55, No. 21.
[7] See Gëmalde Sammlung des Herzog von Leuchtenberg, Galeries Leuchtenberg, Munich, 1851, p. 33, No. 175, Pl. 175. The work was inherited by Maximilian de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg (1817-1852), Munich and then St. Petersburg, Russia, after he married Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia. It is not known how the painting left Russia.
[8] It is believed to be the same painting mentioned in a 1924 auction catalogue from collection of George C. Thomas, Philadelphia, as The Artist Painting a Portrait. See next note.
[9] Samuel T. Freeman & Co. Important Sale of Oil Paintings by the Great Masters of the English and Barbizon Schools, Collection of the Late George C. Thomas, auction catalogue, November 12th and 13th, 1924. Philadelphia, Pa., 1924, No. 29.
[10] See VMFA Curatorial and Registration files.
[1] According to sources, the work was painted for de Juilenne. See Pierre Rosenberg and Marie-Catherine Sahut, Carle Van Loo: Premier peintre du roi (Nice: 1977), Cat. No. 53, p. 44.
[2] See Pierre Rosenberg and Marie-Catherine Sahut, Carle Van Loo: Premier peintre du roi (Nice: 1977), Cat. No. 53, p. 44.
[3] According to file, painting was possibly acquired by Dominique-Vivant Denon for Empress Josephine, Sale of the collection of François-Antoine Robit, May 11, 1801, la grande salle de vente, rue de Clèry, Paris, France.
[4] The painting appeared in inventories of Malmaison. Catalogue des tableaux de sa Majeste l’Imperatice Josephine dans la galerie et appartements de son palais de Malmaison, Paris, Didot jeune, 1811, p. 18, No. 144.
[5] See Pinkney Near, “A Turkish Fantasy,” Arts in Virginia, Vol. VIII, No. 3, Spring 1968, p. 24.
[6] See Catalogue (Gëmalde Sammlung in Munchen) of the Collection of Dom Augusto, Herzog von Leuchtenberg, Munich, 1835, p. 55, No. 21.
[7] See Gëmalde Sammlung des Herzog von Leuchtenberg, Galeries Leuchtenberg, Munich, 1851, p. 33, No. 175, Pl. 175. The work was inherited by Maximilian de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg (1817-1852), Munich and then St. Petersburg, Russia, after he married Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia. It is not known how the painting left Russia.
[8] It is believed to be the same painting mentioned in a 1924 auction catalogue from collection of George C. Thomas, Philadelphia, as The Artist Painting a Portrait. See next note.
[9] Samuel T. Freeman & Co. Important Sale of Oil Paintings by the Great Masters of the English and Barbizon Schools, Collection of the Late George C. Thomas, auction catalogue, November 12th and 13th, 1924. Philadelphia, Pa., 1924, No. 29.
[10] See VMFA Curatorial and Registration files.
Some object records are not complete and do not reflect VMFA's full and current knowledge. VMFA makes routine updates as records are reviewed and enhanced.
