Presumed portrait of Geneviève Sophie LE COUTEULX du MOLAY
Fine Arts
Inventory number
2020.11.30.8.FA.GR.1777.FRAuthor:
Jacques-Antoine-Marie LEMOINE (French, Rouen 1751 - 1824 Paris)Description
Oval pastel drawing portrait of a noble lady in a gray gown with a low-cut bodice and trimmed with lace ruffles. She wears a high powdery hairstyle ornamented with a blue ribbon.This pastel is presumed to be the portrait of Geneviève Sophie LE COUTEULX du MOLAY (1753 - 1801) born LE COUTEULX de LA NORAYE, at the age of 24. Geneviève Sophie is the daughter of Jean Jacques Vincent LE COUTEULX de LA NORAYE (1716 - 1765) and Helene Olympe PALERME (1718 - 1807). The LE COUTEULX family is a French noble family originally from Normandy who made their fortune and reputation first as cloth merchants, then as bankers. The "Le Couteulx et Compagnie", founded at the beginning of the 17th century, is considered to be the oldest banking house in France. From this period, the LE COUTEULX family, who habitually allied with other merchants took the habit of marrying within them. This system in force in the large bourgeoisie financier allows to keep the fortune within its members. The Le Couteulx family is thus divided into different branches which take the names of Le Couteulx de Caumont, Couteulx du Molay, Le Couteulx de La Noraye, Le Couteulx de Canteleu, Couteulx de Verclives ...
Geneviève Sophie LE COUTEULX de LA NORAYE married in Paris, on January 7, 1769, Jean Jacques LE COUTEULX du MOLAY (1740 - 1723). In 1771, they acquired the Château de Malmaison (which they kept until 1799 before selling it to Joséphine de BEAUHARNAIS). In 1777, his uncle, Thomas Barthélemy LE COUTEULX, commissioned the painter Jacques-Antoine-Marie LEMOINE to paint his portrait. It will be the first in a long series of portraits of the LE COUTEULX family. Several portraits of the LE COUTEULX du MOLAY family were known at the same time by LEMOINE himself or by artists close to LEMOINE such as his friend Madame VIGEE LEBRUN.
This recent attribution and linked to the sale at the end of 2011 of a pair of pastels by Jean Baptiste GOUCHON du LAFFON, kept in the family collections and representing the family of Jean Jacques Vincent LE COUTEULX de LA NORAYE, his wife and his 4 children around 1760. Geneviève Sophie appears there as a young girl of around 10 years old. Her sister, Helene Emilie, about 14 years ago. The strong "air of family" allows a link with this family and not, as initially considered, with the singer Mme Saint-Huberty, at the age of 21, when she start her career under her maiden name: Anne Antoinette Cécile CLAVEL.
Materials
Pastel on paperCardboard
Glass
Wood frame
Origin
1777 FranceDimensions
Length : 63 cmHeight : 74 cm