The Colosseum, with an artist sketching

Price Realised GBP 50,000

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GBP 50,000 - GBP 80,000

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JEAN LEMAIRE, CALLED POUSSIN-LEMAIRE (DAMMARTIN 1598-1659 GAILLON)

The Colosseum, with an artist sketching

Price Realised GBP 50,000

JEAN LEMAIRE, CALLED POUSSIN-LEMAIRE (DAMMARTIN 1598-1659 GAILLON)
The Colosseum, with an artist sketching
oil on canvas
57⁷⁄₈ x 83¹⁄₂ in. (144.5 x 212 cm.)

Private collection, France.

This lot will be removed to our storage facility at Momart. Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite. Our removal and storage of the lot is subject to the terms and conditions of storage which can be found at Christies.com/storage and our fees for storage are set out in the table below - these will apply whether the lot remains with Christie’s or is removed elsewhere. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Momart. All collections from Momart will be by pre-booked appointment only. Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com. If the lot remains at Christie’s it will be available for collection on any working day 9.00 am to 5.00 pm. Lots are not available for collection at weekends.
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Lot Essay

Born near Paris, Jean Lemaire was known as 'Le Gros Lemaire' to distinguish him from his younger brother, called 'Le Petit Lemaire' (1612-1688). After studying with Claude Vignon, Lemaire was in Rome by 1613. In 1624 he was recorded as sharing quarters with Nicolas Poussin in via Ferratina, where their fellow countryman Simon Vouet also had a studio. Lemaire and Poussin were living together in via del Babuino by 1629, and soon after Cassiano dal Pozzo became the dealer of both artists. Several works executed by the two painters in collaboration are known from this period, including Theseus finding his father’s Sword (c.1636; Chantilly, Musée Condé). Lemaire had returned to Paris by 1639, when he was appointed 'Garde du Cabinet de peintre de Sa Majesté et son Chasteau du Louvre et Thuilleries’, the first nucleus of the future Louvre Museum. Under Poussin’s direction he contributed to the decoration of the Grande Galerie of the Louvre in 1641-2.

This imposing view of the Colosseum with an artist sketching is an important addition to the sixty or so known works by Jean Lemaire, none of which are signed or dated. It is conceivably the picture by the artist recorded as 'Un quadro alto palmi 6 largo palmi 8 con la prospettiva del Coliseo mano del Lamer scudi 35' which entered the collection of of Gian Maria Roscioli, a prelate at the Barberini court, on 2 September 1634 (M. Fagiolo dell’Arco, Jean Lemaire: Pittore “Antiquario”, Rome, 1996 , p. 251). The Colosseum had also been the subject of another picture executed by 19 January 1630, during the time that Lemaire was living with Poussin in via del Babuino. That work was commissioned by Cassiano dal Pozzo for his Florentine client Agnolo Gaddi, along with a view of Pontemolle, the two paintings being described as “due pezzi de’ grandi” (ibid., p. 13). The pose of the seated young artist, shown in classical dress, can be compared with the figure sketching in Lemaire’s Classical ruins in a landscape in the Royal Collection (c.1630-40).

The attribution to Lemaire has been independently confirmed by Alastair Laing and Timothy Standring (private communications with the owner).