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Open Content Program
The Birmingham Museum of art makes available digital images of works in the Museum’s collection believed to be in the public domain. Images are available free of charge for any use, commercial or non-commercial. Users do not need to contact the Museum for authorization to use these images. They are available through the Online Collection at artsbma.org/collection. See detailed instructions for specific work types below.
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- Titles Portrait of a Family Group, the Comte de Choiseul-Gouffier and Family (Proper)
- Artist Louis de Carmontelle, French, 1717 - 1806
- Medium watercolor on paper
- Dimensions sheet: 13 9/16 × 8 13/16 in. (34.4 × 22.4 cm) mount: 14 1/4 × 10 3/16 in. (36.2 × 25.9 cm) mat: 20 × 15 1/8 in. (50.8 × 38.4 cm) frame: 23 1/4 × 18 1/2 × 1 1/2 in. (59.1 × 47 × 3.8 cm)
- Credit Line Eugenia Woodward Hitt Collection, 1991.273
- Work Type painting
- Classification Paintings
- Signature Unsigned
- Marks None
- Inscription Recto, bottom right corner of image, in black ink, collector's mark: AA [Lugt 3365] Verso, lower center, in black ink, possibly in artist's: M rs[superscript] et Mad de Choisiuïl-Gouffier 1765 / Carmontel dilinea. [sic] Verso of frame, now removed and in object file: Brown label, handwritten in brown ink, possibly in artist's hand: 1er. Le Comte de Choiseul-Gouffier, connu par son voyage pittoresque de la Grece / 2me. Marie-Louise-Adelaide de Gouffier; comtesse de Choiseul-Gouffier, sa femme / 3me. L'ainee de leurs enfants, mariee au Duc de Saulx-Tavannes / 4me. Le comte de Choiseul- / Daillecourt, frere cadet / du comte de Choiseul-Gouffier. / Carmontel delineavit Cream oval label, printed in red ink and handwritten in black ink: [printed] CHENUE / EMBALLEUR / [handwritten] Doucet [?, underlined] / [printed] 5, Rue de la Terrasse, PARIS Inscribed on backing board, handwritten in black marker, partially cutoff: X938 Blue and white label, printed in white and black ink and typed in red ink: [printed in white ink] ANDRE CHENUE / Layetier emballeur / EMBALLAGE ET TRANSPORT D'OBJECTS L'ART / 924.03.11 - 5 RUE DE LA TERRASSE - PARIS 17E - 924.14.43 / [printed in black ink] Exposition [typed] du XVII siécle Francais / [printed in black ink] Prêteur [typed] Mr. ANANOFF / [printed in black ink] Titre [typed] Carmontel La famille Choiseul Gouffier White label, printed and typed in black ink, handwritten in blue ink: [printed] ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS, LONDON, W.1 / [handwritten] Care 174 / [typed] FRANCE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY / 1968 / [printed] Artist: [typed] Carmontelle / [printed] Title: [typed] La Famille Choiseul-Gouffier [printed] Serial No. / [typed] 841 / - drawing / [printed] Owner: [typed] Monsieur Alexandre Ananoff / [printed] This label to be affixed to the back of the frame (not the canvas) / of the picture. Please correct any particulars not properly given. Small white rectangular label, mostly removed, no text visible
- Provenance Marie Gabriel Florent Auguste, comte de Choiseul-Gouffier (1752-1817), the sitter, France. Alexandre Ananoff (1910-1992), Paris, possibly acquired after 1965 and before 1968 [see note 1]. Dealer Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York; purchased by Eugenia Woodward Hitt (1905-1990), New York, 1970 [see note 2]; by bequest to the Birmingham Museum of Art, 1991
1. Lugt 3365. According to Lugt 3365, Ananoff started using this stamp after 1965. A label on the back of the frame from an exhibition held in 1968 at the Royal Academy of Arts in London identifies the owner of 1991.273 as Alexandre Ananoff. This is possibly the “private collection in Paris” mentioned in France in the Eighteenth Century, 1968, published by the Royal Academy of Arts, the “private collection” mentioned in Dessins Français du XVIIIe Siècle, 1969, published by L’Œil Gallery, and the “French private collection” mentioned on the purchasing invoice from Rosenberg & Stiebel Gallery.
2. Referred to as Mrs. O’Neill Ryan on invoice.