Photo. Giraudon.

JOSEPH AND POTIPHAR’S WIFE.
By Prud’hon.		 THE GUITARPLAYER.
By Watteau.

Musée Condé.

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Lancret was a younger contemporary of Watteau, and observing his success adopted his style; without, however, attaining to his eminence. His Déjeuner de Jambon in the Galerie des Peintures at Chantilly presents a company of merry-makers on the point of becoming riotous; and opposite to it hangs a companion picture by de Troy entitled Le Déjeuner d’Huîtres. The host in this latter composition—a figure dressed in scarlet—is probably a Prince of the House of Orleans presiding at a feast in the Palais Royal. Many of the guests represented are said to be personages well known in their day: for King Louis Philippe was still able to distinguish them by name. They are certainly enjoying their oysters and iced champagne; and the satisfaction of the well-fed is clearly exhibited in their features and gestures.

Together with this group of artists mention must be made of Christophe Huet, designer and decorator of the Grande Chinoiserie at Chantilly. These decorations in a style so much in vogue in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were once attributed to Watteau, Gillot, Oudry, and others until an Account, dated 1741, was found in the Archives of Chantilly disclosing the name of Christophe Huet. They cover the panels of the so-called “Salon des Singes.” Scenes and episodes from the chase and the tea-party, architectural effects and other subjects, all are carried out in a pseudo-Chinese style. Apes clad in Condé uniforms and carrying flags act as outriders or grooms under the direction of grim-looking mandarins robed in gorgeous Oriental apparel. Besides the decorations here there is on the ground floor of the Château a “Petite Singerie” decorated in very much the same style: humorous scenes, wherein female monkeys are riding or occupied with their toilet. Jean Baptiste Huet, son of this Christophe, was also repeatedly commissioned by Prince Louis Joseph de Condé to paint pictures of his favourite animals.

The celebrated painter of pastels, Latour, is represented at Chantilly by a portrait of Madame Adelaide de France, daughter of Louis XV. His portraits, now recognised as even superior to those of Boucher and Lancret, are fine studies of character, but they are very rare. The pastel of the handsome Marie Fel, an opera-singer from Bordeaux by whom this artist was befriended, is very celebrated; and a group of portraits at St. Quentin place him in the foremost rank of French portrait-painters. His pre-eminent talents have been fully recognised by modern students of the French School.

His contemporary, Peronneau—till recently known chiefly as an engraver of the works of Boucher, Van Loo, and others—is now known to be the artist who painted a charming Portrait of a Girl in the Louvre and other pastels. Rosalba Carriera’s great success in that medium is also well known. The young King Louis XV, the Regent, and many other important personages were painted by her, and in her time she put into the shade both Latour and Peronneau.

Duplessis brings us to the time of the Revolution, when ruin fell upon so many of the artists of that day. His portrait of the Duchesse de Chartres, mother of Louis Philippe and grandmother of the Duc d’Aumale, is at Chantilly. She is seated in a garden, lost in profound sorrow at the departure of her husband to a naval engagement, symbolised by a ship disappearing in the distance: a refined and graceful presentation of a charming woman capable of winning the hearts of all around her. The portraits of Louis XVI and of the Comte de Provence by this painter in the Musée Condé are considered to be among the best likenesses of the last Bourbon Kings. Duplessis held the post of Administrator of the Galleries at Versailles.