Jules-Hughes Rousseau (1743-1806), l’aîné, et Jean-Siméon Rousseau (1747-1820), étaient les fils de Jules Antoine Rousseau (1710-1782), Sculpteur du Roi. Tous trois travaillèrent aux châteaux royaux de Versailles, Bellevue, Saint-Cloud, Chambord, Choisy, Compiègne, Marly, Fontainebleau et Meudon. Ces panneaux d’arabesques fantaisistes reflètent l’influence directe du cabinet turc du comte d’Artois (1757-1836) à Versailles, exécuté d’avril à novembre 1781. Celui-ci procédait lui-même des arabesques commandées par le comte d’Artois pour son pavillon de Bagatelle, conçu par l’architecte François-Joseph Bélanger (1744-1818) et construit en 1777 en seulement neuf semaines, à la suite d’un pari de 100,000 livres entre le comte d’Artois et Marie Antoinette (1755-1793). Conçu comme un palais de plaisance dans le goût 'à l’antique', ces arabesques, d’un esprit très proche, sont étudiées dans La Folie d’Artois, Paris, 1988, [cat. exp.], pp. 87-142.
Pour l’attribution, on peut comparer cette œuvre à la série de panneaux des frères Rousseau provenant de l’hôtel Hosten (aujourd’hui conservée au J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, inv. 98.DH.149), ainsi qu’à ceux peints pour l’hôtel Mégret de Sérilly, aujourd’hui dans la collection Jones du Victoria and Albert Museum, Londres (inv. 1736 à E-1869). Un ensemble presque identique de cinq panneaux a été vendu chez Christie's à Londres à l'occasion de la vente Le Pavillon Chougny, les 9 et 10 décembre 2004, pour 206,850£.
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English
Three of the canvases are unlined, they are held under correct tension on their stretchers and remain stable. One of the canvases has five repaired tears in the lower half of the composition, with associated patches to the reverse. The fourth canvas has been relined.
The paintings present very well in natural light. They have kept an excellent freshness of colour and the surface of the paint is beautifully preserved, allowing the fluidity of execution to be fully appreciated. The canvases show a fine pattern of craquelure. This does not affect the legibility of the works and the paint remains stable.
Examination under UV light of the canvas that has been relined shows restoration to the background around the perfume burner in the lower centre and some quite extensive retouching to the background along the edges of the canvas. Examination of the canvas that has the patches reveals the restored tears associated with these, three of which are in the background, one of which runs vertically through the female figure at lower right and one of which can be seen as a puncture in the figure at lower right. There is some quite extensive retouching in the background along the canvas edges. The other two paintings are in very good condition, with some minor retouching along the canvas edges. Overall all the detail of the decoration is well preserved in all the compositions. The canvases are unframed.
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