Jean-Simon BERTHELEMY (Laon 1743-Paris 1811) - Lot 64

Jean-Simon BERTHELEMY (Laon 1743-Paris 1811) View of a staircase at the Villa d'Este Sanguine. Signed and dated lower left: Berthelemy 1774. Insolate, a few small chips restored, small folds. 43.6 x 29.2 cm Our drawing can be compared with another view of the Villa d'Este park in the Kunstbibliothek, Berlin. Berlin (size 59 x 34 cm; see Nathalie Volle, Jean-Simon Berthélemy, peintre d'histoire (1743-1811), Paris, Arthena, 1979, no. 126, fig. 93). Jean-Simon Berthélemy's drawings of Italian landscapes have long been known as Fragonard or Hubert Robert. Berthélemy is precisely at the crossroads of these two great artists, between the poetic immateriality of the immateriality of the former and the graphic precision of the latter. A collector of Piranesi's plates, his own sheets feature monumental contrast effects. effects. He stayed in Italy between 1771 and 1774, after winning the Prix de Rome for his painting The Siege of Calais. Siège de Calais. A fine draughtsman, decorator, history painter and portraitist, Berthélemy was one of the artists of his time, despite the neglect and disdain he suffered after his death. This drawing is presented by DAGUERRE VAL DE LOIRE