ANDRÉ LÉON LARUE, called MANSION 

(1785-1834)

Portrait of the Countess ESZTERHAZY

1820

Signed and dated on the right: Mansion 1820

Watercolor and gouache, oval 13 x 9.5 cm.

Original frame in gilded bronze and ebonized wood, 16 x 20 cm.

Exceptional portrait of Countess Esztehazy in ¾-length, in a light white dress, facing left while looking at the viewer, against a background of sky.

One of the most successful female miniature portraits that the artist gives us excellently preserved in its period frame.
The Esterházy are an ancient family of the Hungarian nobility, among the most important magnates of the kingdom of Hungary, of the empire of Austria and then of the Austo-Hungarian Empire.

An autographed inscription on the back of the miniature: “Mlle Dillon / agée de 18 ans / Peinte par Mansion /Élève d'Isabey. / Le 25 mars 1820”.

Mansion painted more portraits of Count Eszterhazy and his wife, née Dillon in 1820, but this is among the best executed. (Lemoine-Bouchard, p. 366 repr. Fig. C), vte Schidlof, Vienne 23 - 26 November 1921, N ° 90 and 91.

André-Léon Larue (called Mansion) was born in Nancy in 1785 and died after 1834 in Paris. He was pupil of his father Jacques Larue and of Isabey. For some time he worked for the factory of Sevres. He exhibited at the Paris Salon from 1808 to 1834. He went to London several times and exhibited there at the Royal Academy in 1829 and 1831. In 1822 his work "Lettres sur la miniature" appeared in French and in English. Schidlof says: "Mansion counts amongst the best French miniaturists of the 19th century"; he attains the same standard as Aubry, Jacques and Saint. The Wallace collection (London) houses six miniature portraits of young ladies by Mansion, all of large  dimensions, and signed. These miniatures, Schidlof writes, "already had at the time they were painted a considerable success".

Excellent original state of conservation.

Price on request

RELATED WORKS:

London, New Bond Street, Bonhams, 28 Apr 2005, LOT 300: André Léon Larue dit Mansion, A pair of portraits of Count Esterhazy and his Wife, née Dillon, (Sold for £ 34.800 including auction premium).

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

L. Schidlof, The Miniature in Europe, 1964, vol.II, p.529, described as 'very good'.

Bénézit, Schidlof, Bouchard, Blattel, Lespinasse, Foster.

MUSEUMS:

MHL, Louvre, Paris; Nationalmuseum Stockholm, coll. Tansey, Celle; Wallace coll; Antoine-Lécuyer Museum, Sain-Quentin; Briner and Kern Museum, Winterthur; Cincinnati Art Museum; Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City.