ANNA GAULT DE SAINT GERMAIN (WARSAW, 1760-PARIS, 1832)
PORTRAIT OF A WOMAN WEARING A WREATH OF FLOWERS SELF-PORTRAIT ?
Oval pastel
Old restorations
Signed on the left "Gault de St Germain / née Rajecka / fecit"; old auction label on the reverse bearing no. 3
Portrait of woman, oval pastel, with restorations, signed
61 x 50 CM - 24 x 19,6 IN.
Exhibition
Probably Salon de 1791, no. 166 (Portrait ovale de femme).
Anna Rajecka is the daughter of portrait painter Josef Rajecki. Her brother was also a painter. She trained with Marteau and Bacciarelli. Thanks to the patronage of Stanislas II, King of Poland, who sent her to Paris in 1783, Anna completed her artistic training, probably under the tutelage of Greuze and Vigée Le Brun. The king commissioned her to paint a series of oil portraits of eminent figures. His mature period in Paris was marked by compositions reminiscent of Kucharski's, but with a softer, airier palette. In 1788, Anna married miniaturist Pierre-Marie Gault de Saint-Germain. However, the French Revolution and the Terror forced them to flee to Clermont-Ferrand in 1792, where Anna continued to practice her art, creating portraits for local notables.
In 1791, critics presented the painting as Portrait ovale de femme, par madame Gault de Saint-Germain. "This pleasant head makes us wish Madame Gault had painted herself. Then we could congratulate her on the amiable rotundity of her two hot-air balloons".
Provenance:
Anonymous sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot (Maître Baudoin), December 21, 1934, no. 3
Bibliography:
Neil Jeffares, Dictionary of pastellists before 1800, online edition, no. J. 34.1612 (Dame en robe blanche couronne de fleurs, circa 1810), accessed May 2024.
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