Beschreibung:

René Pierre PRINCETEAU (Libourne, 1843 - Fronsac, 1914) Portrait équestre du général George Washington, c. 1876 Esquisse préparatoire et mise au carreau du tableau présenté à l'exposition Universelle de Philadelphie en 1876 et conservé dans la résidence de l'ambassadeur des États-Unis en France. Huile sur toile. Haut. 90, Larg. 72,5 cm. (accidents et restaurations, rentoilée). Provenance : collection parisienne. Oil on canvassketch for the portrait of Washington by Princeteau, kept at the United States Embassy in Paris, circa 1876. Certificat bien culturel de libre circulation hors du territoire français. Bibliographie : Marguerite Stahl, "Gentleman Princeteau, 3, Portraits et portraits équestres", éd. Le Festin, 2008. Le portrait achevé reproduit, p. 78-83. Références pour le tableau achevé : - Exposition universelle de Philadelphie, 1876, "Centennial Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures and Products of the soil and mine", exposition du centenaire de l'Indépendance du 4 juillet 1776. - Famille d'Amade, Pontus. - 1937-1939 : Paris, dépôt de la Société des Cincinnati. - 1954-1970 : Paris, dépôt du musée de l'Armée. - Vente Palais Galliera, 3 décembre 1972, lot n°164. - Achat et don de M. l'Ambassadeur K. Watson pour l'ambassade des États-Unis à Paris, exposé depuis à la résidence de l'ambassadeur des États-Unis, 41, rue du faubourg Saint-Honoré. Pour prolonger sur rouillac.com : - "L'esquisse du portrait de Washington pour le centenaire de l'Indépendance américaine", par Jacques Farran. "The sketch of the portrait of Washington for the centenary of American Independence" by Jacques Farran As solemn as it is dynamic, this sketch represents a general holding a bay dress horse with his left hand. Powerful, but controlled by its rider, the group poses under a stormy sky. The two-time President of the United States is dressed in a yellow and dark blue suit, with epaulets, a sword and gold spurs. Washington's hieraticism, discovering his bicorne with his right hand as if to salute the spectator, is opposed to the movement of the horse's mane caught in the wind from a sea sprays. On the left, four sailboats detach from the spray, overlooking an undefinable land mass. Probably Admiral De Grasse's ships. To the right, a high dark mass would represent the Yorktown fort; it overlooks a smoking object that could be a cannon. In the lower left corner, two cannonballs complete the composition. While the painting exhibited at the U.S. Embassy is distinguished by some of the details of our sketch, the restoration it underwent does not allow us to appreciate it as it was presented at the 1876 Universal Exhibition. However, an old postcard (16.3 x 11.2 cm, part. coll. General Amade) provides a version of this painting closer to the one in our sketch. The mass in the lower left corner has turned into a cannon that disappears to the right. The fort on the right was topped with a starred banner. The other elements, the intensity of the colours and the naturalism of the portrait, are part of the completion of the painting and not a transformation of the composition, transposed onto a canvas sixteen times larger (Height: 369, Width: 296 cm). Celebrating the centenary of American independence at the Universal Exhibition in Philadelphia, the completed painting was displayed in prestigious settings before being exhibited in a place that would bear witness to Franco-American friendship: the United States Embassy in Paris. René Princeteau, animal painter specialized in equestrian representation, presents his masterpiece here. France, the oldest ally of the United States, sends Philadelphia an equestrian portrait "à la Van Dick" of the American founding father. In 1871, the construction of the Statue of Liberty, a token of friendship across the Atlantic, began... The colossal work could not be delivered in time for the Philadelphia Exhibition, so Bartholdi had the most symbolic element displayed: the torch-bearing arm. Our sketch, the missing link in the deve