JAQUES THOURON (1749-1789)
Portrait miniature of a Girl in the guise of a classical female figure, after Jean Baptiste Greuze (1725-1805); circa 1780s
Enamel
Set in rock crystal, in a gold frame, with watered silk ribbon on the reverse. Presented in a Panhard* box (see provenance below).
Circle, 2 ½ in (65mm) high
Provenance: Probably Mme Ve Lenoir, Paris, Hotel Drouot, Catalogue des objets d'art... dépendant de la succession de Mme Ve Lenoir, 19 May 1874; Probably M. Couvreur, Paris, Hotel Drouot, Catalogue des bijoux anciens, miniatures, tabatières et émaux peints dépendant de la succession de M. Couvreur, 6-8 December 1875, lot 107; *Probably Felix Panhard, Paris, Hotel Drouot, Bel ensemble de miniatures des XVIIIe et XIXe siècles, 2nd day’s sale, 18 March 1976; Bought by the present owner through Galerie Jaegy Theoleyre, c.2014.
£13,500
“Both Greuze and Thouron were natural storytellers – the idealised men and women in their portraits allowing the viewer to impose their own sentiments and emotions on the image in front of them…”
Jaques Thouron was born in Geneva in 1740, and at the age of 20 moved to Paris. Before his relocation, he had been a student under Pierre Francois Marcinhes. Examples of his enamel miniatures can be found across Europe, including a portrait of Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun in the Wallace Collection[1]. The subject is based on a (now lost) oil painting by Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1725-1805).[2] The French painter was a contemporary of Thouron, and was known for his depictions of women expressing extreme emotions, and muses. Both artists were natural storytellers – the idealised men and women in their portraits allowing the viewer to impose their own sentiments and emotions on the image in front of them.
The detail and skill in depicting emotion that made paintings by Greuze so captivating can certainly be seen here. The tears that seem to appear in the girl’s eyes, as well as the softness of her pose, are reminiscent of examples of portraits by Greuze such as Ariadne and Psyche, both in the Wallace Collection[3]. The fact that Thouron has managed to capture these on such a small scale, and through the medium of enamel, is particularly impressive. In order to create the miniature, he would have had to heat different layers of enamel, each one requiring a specific temperature. It is through this technique that an impression of great depth has been developed.
Thouron is known to have painted another miniature after Greuze’s The Broken Jar[4]. As this was exhibited in the Salon de la Correspondance in 1781, it is possible to suggest that the current example was painted around the same time. Since its creation, it has passed through the collection of Felix Panhard, where it would have likely received the case that it is in today, embossed with the artist’s name.
[1] Wallace Collection, London, Inventory Number M311.
[2] Another version of the same subject was later painted by Augustus Jules Bouvier (1827-1881) and sold through Galerie Jaegy Theoleyre, Paris.
[3] The Wallace collection, London, inventory numbers P421 (Ariadne), and P388 (Psyche).
[4] L.R. Schidlof, The Miniature in Europe, Graz, 1964, vol.II, p.818.