Diploma Lecture Series 2012 Absolutism to enlightenment: European art and culture 1665-1765

La Tour, Liotard and the Pastellists

Peter Raissis

19/20 September 2012

Lecture summary: Known to Leonardo da Vinci as the “dry colouring method”, pastel is an unrivalled medium for the freshness and luminosity of its colours and the delicacy of its nuances. This lecture will explore the development of pastel as an artistic medium from the Renaissance to the 18 th century, when the vogue for pastel painting reached its zenith, particularly in France. In the hands of artists such as Maurice-Quentin de La Tour (1704-1788) – the most celebrated pastellist of the 18 th century – as well as his contemporaries Jean-Étienne Liotard (1702-1789), Rosalba Carriera (1675-1757) and Jean-Baptiste Perronneau (1715-1783), pastel was used as a virtuoso medium that could rival oil painting.

Slide list: 1. Signorelli Hercules and Antaeus 1490s black chalk Royal Collection 2. Titian Angel c1560 black and white chalk on blue paper Uffizi 3. Leonardo Head of Judas 1490s red chalk Royal Collection 4. Leonardo Isabella d’Este c1500 pastel Louvre 5. Leonardo Study for the head of the Virgin c1510 pastel Met, NY 6. Michelangelo Madonna and Child c1525 pastel Uffizi 7. Barrocci Head of a boy c1586 pastel Alberina 8. Barrocci Study for head of Christ c1576 pastel Alberina 9. Barrocci Annunciation c1582 pastel Uffizi 10. François Clouet Portrait of unknown man 1565 red and black chalk Musée Condé, Chantilly 11. Rubens Hélène Fourment c1630 red, black and white chalk Courtauld Institute, London 12. Watteau Studies of eight heads and a hand holding a mask c1714 red black and white chalk 13. Joseph Vivien Portrait of Bacqueville de La Potherie 1704 pastel Musée Chartreuse, Douai 14. Carriera A muse mid1720s pastel Getty, LA 15. Chardin Self-portrait at an easel c1779 pastel Louvre 16. Carriera Gustavus Hamilton, 2ns Viscount Boyne in masquerade costume c1730 pastel Met, NY 17. Carriera Nymph 1720s pastel Louvre 18. Carriera A young lady with a parrot c1730 pastel Art Institute of Chicago 19. La Tour Self-portrait (the painter laughing) 1737 pastel Louvre 20. Antoine Coypel Democritus 1692 oil on canvas Louvre * 21. La Tour Self-portrait c1750 pastel Musée de Picardie, Amiens 22. La Tour Self-portrait c1750 Musée Cognacy-Jay, Paris 23. La Tour Self-portrait c1750 Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena 24. La Tour Self-portrait (preparation) c1750 pastel Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon 25. La Tour Self-portrait (preparation) c1760 pastel Louvre 26. La Tour Self-portrait c1770 pastel Fine Arts Museum San Francisco

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27. Charles Lemonnier Mme Geoffrin’s Salon 1755 1812 Musée National du Château de Malmaison 28. La Tour Mlle Ferrand meditating on Newton 1753 pastel Alte Pinakothek Munich 29. La Tour The abbé Huber 1742 pastel Musée d’Art de d’Histoire, Geneva 30. La Tour Voltaire (preparation) c1736 Nationalmuseum, Stockholm 31. La Tour Voltaire (preparation ) c1736 Musée Antoine Lécuyer, Saint Quentin 32. La Tour Jean Le Rond d’Alembert 1753 pastel Louvre 33. La Tour Jean-Jacques Roussau 1753 pastel Musée d’Art de d’Histoire, Geneva * 34. La Tour La marquise de Pompadour 1755 pastel Louvre 35. La Tour Preparation for La marquise de Pompadour c1753 pastel Musée Antoine Lécuyer, Saint Quentin 36. La Tour Le Président de Rieux 1741 Getty, LA 37. Perronneau Olivier Journu 1756 pastel Met, NY 38. Perronneau Antoine Lemoyne 1747 pastel private collection 39. Perronneau Young girl with a cat 1747 pastel Louvre 40. Liotard Sir Everard Fawkener c1738 red and black chalk private collection 41. Liotard Gaspard de Péleran, French consul to Smyrna 1738 red and black chalk, Louvre 42. Liotard Woman of Constantinople entering a hamman 1738 black and red chalk Louvre * 43. Liotard Frankish woman and her servant at a hammam c1742 pastel Musée d’Art de d’Histoire, Geneva 44. Liotard Young woman in Turkish costume playing the tambourine 1740s/50s pastel private collection 45. Liotard Young woman in Turkish costume seated on a divan (presumed portrait of the Countess of Coventry) c1750 pastel Musée d’Art de d’Histoire, Geneva 46. Liotard Self-portrait with a beard 1744 pastel Uffizi 47. Liotard The Empress Maria-Theresa 1762 pastel Musée d’Art de d’Histoire, Geneva 48. Liotard The artist’s wife and his eldest daughter Marie-Jeanne c1766 pastel Musée d’Art de d’Histoire, Geneva 49. Liotard Marie-Thérèse Liotard c1779 pastel Musée d’Art de d’Histoire, Geneva 50. Liotard The Archduchess Marie-Christine 1762 pastel Musée d’Art de d’Histoire, Geneva 51. Liotard The Archduchess Marie-Antoinette 1762 pastel Musée d’Art de d’Histoire, Geneva 52. Liotard Ma id carrying chocolate (La belle chocolatière) c1745 pastel Gemäldegalerie, Dresden * 53. Liotard Self-portrait (known as Liotard with beard) c1749 pastel Musée d’Art de d’Histoire, Geneva 54. Liotard Self-portrait with red cap c1768 pastel Musée d’Art de d’Histoire, Geneva 55. Liotard Self-portrait with hand on chin c1770 pastel Musée d’Art de d’Histoire, Geneva 56. Liotard View of Geneva from the artist’s house with self-portrait c1765 pastel private collection Geneva 57. Liotard Se lf-portrait 1782 black and white chalk Musée d’Art de d’Histoire, Geneva

Reference:

www.pastellists.com (Free online edition of Dictionary of Pastellists before 1800 by Neil Jeffares. Excellent .) Christian Debrie and Xavier Salmon, Maurice-Quentin de La Tour. Prince des pastellistes , Paris 2000 (in French) Anne de Herdt Dessins de Liotard exh cat Louvre/Geneva 1992 (in French)

La Tour Self-portrait c1750 pastel Musée de Picardie, Amiens

La Tour La marquise de Pompadour 1755 pastel Louvre

Liotard Frankish woman and her servant at a hammam c1742 pastel Musée d’Art de d’Histoire, Geneva

Liotard Self-portrait (known as Liotard with beard) c1749 pastel Musée d’Art de d’Histoire, Geneva

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