Lot 17
Jean-Baptiste Isabey (French, 1767-1855), "Napoléon Bonaparte, Premier Consul de la Republique Française", watercolor miniature on ivory, signed and dated "1801" lower left, signed, dated and inscribed en verso, 4 1/4 in. x 3 1/4 in., in a period frame with fine enamel reverse. Note: Isabey left his hometown of Nancy to work as a miniaturist in Paris. An accomplished and promising artist, he eventually entered the studio of the great Neo-Classical painter Jacques-Louis David (French, 1748-1825). It is testament to Isabey's talent that a painter of David's stature and stylistic approach would accept a miniaturist as a student. Isabey was soon one of the favored painters of the Court of Louis XVI, creating exquisitely rendered miniature portraits of the royal family and the various members of the French and Austrian aristocracy. He became so enmeshed in Court life that not only did he supply drawing lessons to the ladies of the court, he also frequently designed costumes and arranged festivities. Despite his prominent position in the Royal Court, Isabey was able to remain publicly politically neutral. Though he continued a Royalist at heart, he soon received commissions from the men and women associated with the republic of Napoleon and, as seen in the present lot, Napoleon himself. Isabey regularly exhibited at the Paris Salon. He was made a commander of the Legion of Honor, and supplied with a life pension, by Napoleon III. Reference: Benezit. Dictionnaire des Peintres, Librairie Grund, 1976, vol. V pp. 730-732.
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