Art Institute of Chicago

Madame François Buron

Jacques-Louis David (French, 1748–1825)LinkedCulture matchlcp-abacad3af207

Date: 1769
Medium: Oil on canvas
Culture: France
Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Institution: Art Institute of Chicago
Object ID: 88632

Following his father’s death in 1757, the young Jacques-Louis David was raised in the house of his uncle, architect François Buron, and his wife, Marie-Josèphe Fromont. Madame Buron was particularly supportive of David’s desire to become a painter, in opposition to her husband’s wish that he study architecture. In this intimate early portrait, David presented his aunt looking up momentarily from her reading to acknowledge the viewer with a warm reserve. Her glance suggests an affectionate bond between the painter and sitter and displays the ambitious young artist’s awareness of contemporary conventions for depicting middle-class women of sensibility.

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Provenance & credit

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Credit line: Purchased with funds provided by Mrs. Albert J. Beveridge in memory of her mother, Abby Louise Spencer (Mrs. Augustus Eddy).
Provenance: Probably in the sitter’s possession [for the descent of this portrait and the companion portrait of François Buron, see Schnapper in Paris 1989-90, p. 44, under no. 2]; probably by descent to her daughter, Marie Françoise Buron, who married François Charles Seigneur; probably by descent to their daughter, Alexandrine Marie Louise, who married Charles François Baudry; probably by descent to their son, A. Baudry, and his wife (both d. 1903), by 1879; probably in 1903 to Mme Baudry’s brother, M. Dussault (or Dussaud), and his wife [according to London 1948 and Péreire 1907]; presumably by descent to M. Regnault, a family member, Paris, until 1925; offered for sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 22 June 1905, no. 2 (ill.), bought in [subsequently lent by Regnault to Paris 1913]; sold by Regnault to Wildenstein, Paris in 1925; transferred from Wildenstein, Paris, on 22 March 1939; inventoried in Wildenstein, New York, stock on 27 February 1940 [acc.to Ay-Whang Hsia of Wildenstein, conversation with Martha Wolff 4 November 2003, note in curatorial file]; sold by Wildenstein to the Art Institute, 1963.

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Object type: AAT300033618

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