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| Jean-Baptiste Lallemand (Dijon 1716 - Paris 1803)
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| A port scene: Turkish merchants on the landing stage in front of ships
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Signed lower right Lallemand p
Oil on canvas
22 x 28 ¾ in. (56 x 73 cm.)
Provenance: Sale, Drouot, 20-21 October 1977, no.132; Parisian private collection.
The Colnaghi picture depicts a lively port scene where Turkish merchants converse on a landing stage and others deal in various wares. In the background two large ships approach the stage while more ships appear behind the tower and the bridge. The scene is set in atmospheric evening light, the pinkish sky signifying the approaching evening, while mountains appear in the distance on the horizon behind the reflecting waters. The anecdotal character of the figures as well as the romantic atmosphere created by the light, reveal Lallemand’s influence from the marine work of Claude Joseph Vernet (Avignon 1714 – 1789 Paris). Lallemand’s military scenes, too, often have the same light effects (see, for example, various military scenes in the Musée Carnavalet, Bastille, Paris). Some of Lallemand’s works are topographically accurate however others depict idealised landscapes stemming from the artist’s imagination known as vedute ideale.
Jean-Baptiste Lallemand specialised in architectural, landscape and marine scenes as well as engravings. At first, he started working as a tailor in his father’s business, however in 1739 he decided to move to Paris to study painting. He was accepted at the Parisian Académie de St. Luc in 1745 where he exhibited landscapes with figures and animals. The artist then travelled to Rome, where he remained for the next fourteen years, apart from a brief sojourn to Naples. While in Rome, Lallemand was in contact with French artists such as Etienne Parrocel, Claude-Joseph Vernet and Jean Barbault. He was especially influenced by the works of Vernet and Giovanni Paolo Panini and fascinated by the antique ruins and baroque buildings and as such his landscapes often include Roman elements. Whilst in Rome he also painted depictions of antique architecture (see various examples in The Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg), recalling the works of Hubert Robert, as well as the Finding of Moses for the papal bedroom (Pinacoteca Vaticana, Rome). In 1761, Lallemand returned to France and moved back to Paris in 1762. In Paris he executed some landscape drawings for the Livre de paysages dessinés d’après nature par differents maîtres and painted landscape backgrounds for Watteau’s Figures de differents caractères and Jean-Baptiste Greuze’s Divers habillements suivants le costume d’Italie. In Paris, the artist exhibited his works at the Salons du Colisée (1776), the Salon de la Jeunesse (1783) and the Salon de la Correspondance (1786). In the years between 1770 and 1773, he lived again in Dijon, acting as a member of the jury of the new Ecole de Dessin. He contributed many topographical drawings to the Description générale et particulière de la France, published in 12 volumes between 1781 and 1796. In this period Lallemand also continued to paint and exhibit landscapes and seascapes. He also tried his hand at the minor genres, such as rural subjects and village scenes inspired by Dutch seventeenth-century artists. He died between 1803 and 1805 in Paris.
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P. and D. Colnaghi and Co., Ltd - 15 Old Bond Street London W1S 4AX, United Kingdom Tel: +44-20-7491 7408 Fax: +44-20-7491 8851 contact@colnaghi.co.uk
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