Robert LEFEVRE. 1755-1830. Painter.
Self-portrait representing the artist in his studio. Circa 1820.
Dimensions: 24 x 31 – gilded wood frame with palmettes 35.5 x 44
Particularity of the work: hair of the artist detected during the restoration of the canvas,
preserved in the paint layer at the top right.
On this painting in an intimate format, the great painter Robert Lefèvre is depicted in his studio, in front of his easel on which is fixed a still blank canvas, palette and brushes in hand, ready to execute a work whose dimensions portend an importance certain. The artist, who wears a long dark blouse with wide lapels and collars, revealing a white shirt which clearly shows his face in three-quarter view, is sitting cross-legged on a golden Empire-style chair with green velvet coverings; he seems to be observing his model, holding a brush in his right hand and in his left, with his elbow resting on the back of his chair, a bundle of brushes and his palette which reveals the first colors of the painting. The pause is elegant, the sober tones allowing us to perceive the very particular light of a painter's studio; that of Robert Lefèvre was located on the banks of the Seine, at the posh address of 3 quai d'Orsay, opposite the Tuileries. A Legion of Honor discreetly pinned to the painter's coat, and whose red color is found more strongly on the palette, allows us to date our canvas after June 1820, the moment when Robert Lefèvre received the decoration from the hands of King Louis XVIII.
A talented portraitist
A highly renowned portraitist, Robert Lefèvre was at his peak during the Restoration; It was under the Empire that he earned his titles by painting various official portraits of Napoleon as well as those of members of the imperial family, the Court and the great dignitaries of the regime. Robert Lefèvre was particularly appreciated by his contemporaries for the great resemblance and precision he gave to the faces of his models; likewise, the artist focused on making the details of the clothing, accessories and decorations as accurate as possible. Finally, he had a facility and a prodigious visual memory which allowed him to obtain a perfect likeness without having the model in front of him. This is how he stationed himself as the First Consul passed by to observe him, before taking his portrait for the city of Dunkirk. Later, in six hours, he created a very similar portrait of Pope Pius VII, although David had required several posing sessions to create it. During his lifetime, Lefèvre's portraits were on the level of talent, compared to those of Gérard and Gros; aware of these qualities, Vivant Denon, general director of the Imperial Museums and Manufactures, often called on him to order official portraits of the Emperor.
From 1814, he attracted the favor of the new regime by painting the portrait of Louis XVIII without a posing session, entirely from memory. This delicate attention earned him the appointment of painter to the King's Chamber and Court, and his obtaining numerous commissions from the royal family; in 1818, he was responsible, for the Chamber of Peers, for the official portrait of the king in coronation costume, and for several copies for the major administrations of the kingdom. At the same time, he had to produce for the series of portraits of Vendée leaders, that of General Marquis de Lescure which he executed successfully based on the model of a miniature provided by the family, and which he presented at the Salon. In 1822, he created the portrait of the late Duke of Berry, painted from memory after the Prince's death, and presented in the salon that of Fontanes, Grand Master of the University; several official commissions later followed, notably for the Duchess of Berry, Charles X, and the Duchess of Angoulême, daughter of Marie-Antoinette.
Robert Lefèvre's self-portrait
Personal vision of an artist on his own person, the self-portrait is an exercise in style which requires great virtuosity, and often shows, if not an obligatory passage in the career of a painter, an evolution, a change of status, or an outcome. Robert Lefèvre produced his first self-portrait in 1804, a bust portrait now kept at the Museum of Fine Arts in Caen. Numerous copies of this work by his students (including Fleuriau and Elouis) show that they were a sort of entrance exam into his workshop.
For comparison, Robert Lefèvre painted at the same time and in a brilliant manner, the portraits of his friends, the painters Jean-Victor Bertin (1801), Pierre Guérin (1802), Jan-Franz Van Dael and Carle Vernet (1804) - [The latter, father of Horace Vernet, had probably supported Lefèvre's candidacy for the Legion of Honor; he is mentioned as a witness in his swearing-in in July 1820. Robert Lefèvre had been considered for the Order of Reunion in 1813 but not for the Legion of Honor] – These portraits of artists where each was represented in bust, brushes in hand or placed in front of an easel, were exhibited at the Salons des Arts where they received great success and the best opinions; among them, the Journal des Art writes about Guérin: It seems that by painting a great Artist, one must, I do not know by what secret influence, feel his talent rise and redouble. This attitude is well understood (…).
In 1818, it is very likely that Robert Lefèvre was already thinking of creating a new self-portrait, since he had a “lithograph representing him after his portrait” printed at Delpech. The artist will choose to represent himself no longer in bust but in full length, and more particularly in his studio ready to paint, as if the spectator were the model.
Pierre Guérin, 1801
Portraits of a painter by Robert Lefevre
Jan-Frans van Dael, 1804
Carl Vernet, 1804
Self-portraits by Robert Lefevre, 1810 (Museum of Fine Arts of Caen)
Context of the work
At the end of November 1819, the Journal des Débats reported that if "Robert Lefèvre still holds the first place among portrait painters", he was already thinking of retirement and could give up his place to Kinson... On the same date, in his correspondence with one of his best students, Miss Lucie Defermon, Robert Lefèvre evokes the illness of his wife which saddens him deeply and shares his own health problems (November 1819). At the same period, he made his first request to obtain a pension and accommodation at the Louvre (unpublished archives, series F21/511 at the National Archives); feeling himself declining, and in full spleen, he confided a few years later, in 1824, his youthful memories and his disillusionments: (…) When one has traveled a long career (…), everything is more or less in the false or deceptive world; there is nothing real and endearing other than the pure and chalk friendship of an unvarnished heart (…).
Robert Lefèvre was, however, at the peak of his career as Painter of the King's Chamber, he was made a knight of the Legion of Honor in 1820. Among the high society of the time, it was still fashionable to have oneself portrayed by the great Robert Lefèvre. In her memoirs published in 1830, Lady Morgan saw him as an extremely pleasant and educated man. His pleasure consists of "letting go", and his education is that of a person who has lived in the midst of great events and with remarkable or extraordinary people. Lefèvre has this advantage in common with Gérard, whose half-hour conversation is almost worth one of his superb paintings. If anyone could make me stay calm while posing, it would be Robert Lefèvre; because, in addition to his own merits, he has a very great one in my eyes, that of resembling Denon so exactly, in face, size, costume, manners, even pronunciation and accent, that the illusion has was for an instant complete (…) She adds further: One of the best portraits of Napoleon is by Robert Lefèvre, who had 55 copies made before his eyes for different people. Seeking to obtain the imperial likeness was one of the thousand flatteries then in use (…).
Robert Lefèvre and Jean-Baptiste-Claude Odiot
We will also draw attention to one of the most beautiful portraits that Lefèvre produced during the years 1820-1822, that of the great goldsmith Jean-Baptiste-Claude Odiot (1763-1850), preserved at the Detroit Institute of Arts, in which we observes several similarities in the treatment of the work: the same grace in the gestures and the same posture of the character, the crossed legs, the framing on the right of the canvas in an atmosphere of chiaroscuro. It will also be noted that Odiot wears in an equally discreet manner the Legion of Honor which he had obtained in 1814, as captain of the National Guard, during the defense of the Clichy barrier under the orders of Moncey. Being the exact contemporary of the sketch of our self-portrait, we would like to see in the portrait of Odiot, a mirror game in which the artist is working for his patron. This comparison is entirely plausible when we look at the lives of these two great people who made their fortune thanks to Napoleon. Odiot was also at the height of his career, exhibiting again at the Industrial Products Exhibitions of 1819 and 1823.
Wishing to work for his own posterity, he made known his desire in 1819 to give the Government models of goldsmithing from his workshop, a gift which came to fruition under Louis-Philippe in 1835. It was between 1819 and 1820 that Odiot carried out several exceptional commissions such as the silver-gilt writing desk for Prince Talleyrand, the service for Count Branicki, the Prince of Orléans and that of Prince Nicolas Demidoff. It should be noted that on the same date, in 1820, Robert Lefèvre painted the portrait of the son of this prince, Anatole Demidoff, future husband of Princess Mathilde, which is reminiscent of the links maintained by all these artists. In 1825, Odiot decided to hand over the reins of his workshop to his son Charles-Nicolas.
The culmination of a work now lost or which was ultimately not produced, the sketch of Robert Lefèvre's self-portrait is undoubtedly the reflection not only of a brilliant career as a painter but also of aspirations and image contemporary art world. Our self-portrait is an artist's moving tribute to his art.
