Nicolas LAVREINCE (Stockholm 1737 - 1807) The... Lot 17

Nicolas LAVREINCE (Stockholm 1737 - 1807) The fortune teller Gouache. 47 x 55 cm Provenance : Mühlbacher Collection; Mühlbacher sale, Paris, Galerie Georges Petit (Me Chevallier), May 16, 1899, no. 178; Collection de Madame de Polès; Polès sale, Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, June 22-24, 1927, no. 10, reproduced; Sale of the estate of Madame de Polès, Paris, Galerie Charpentier, November 17-18, 1936, no. 4, reproduced; Collection of Baroness Cassel van Doorn; Sale Cassel van Doorn, Paris, Galerie Charpentier, May 30 1956, no. 20, reproduced; Vente anonyme, Paris, Galerie Charpentier (Me Rheims), December 3, 1959, n°39, reproduced; Maurice Segoura; Collection de Monsieur D. Bibliography: P. Lespinasse, Lavreince, catalog raisonné, Paris, 1928, p. 21, reproduced pl. XLI. Nicolas Lavreince was a pupil of his father, the Swedish miniaturist Niclas Lafrensen. On his arrival in Paris in 1771 for a few months' stay, he began to make a name for himself by painting small portraits in watercolor and oil. Like several great Swedish artists, including Roslin, Hall and Wertmüller, he returned to work in Paris between 1774 and 1791. He specialized in drawings for engraving. His scenes of daily life in high society and his galant scenes were much appreciated by his contemporaries. Full of anecdotes and details, they are an important testimony to the years leading up to the Revolution. Back in Stockholm in 1791, he once again worked as a portraitist. The theme of La diseuse de bonne aventure was treated by artists as diverse as Caravaggio, Valentin de Boulogne, La Tour, Lancret and Fragonard. Lavreince creates a scene in the playful, charming spirit of the Ancien Régime.