FRANÇOIS DE TROY
(1645 Toulouse – Paris 1730)
The Astronomy Lesson for the Duchess of Maine
Oil on canvas
99.5 x 130 cm
Executed circa 1705
Origin:
Painted by the artist for one of the models, perhaps the version cited in the inventory from Sceaux; Comte de Labessière, who sold it to its most recent owner in 1957
Just as A Reading from Molière by Jean-François de Troy, our painting is one of the most emblematic interior scenes from the first half of the French 18th century . The composition was previously known in another version, equally signed (although not presenting the numerous over-paintings that exist in our painting, and less free in the execution of the drapery), acquired in 1988 by the Musée de l’Ile-de-France in Sceaux (oil on canvas, 96 x 128 cm).
Aside from their pictorial quality, and their historical interest, these two paintings are the only known representations of the interior of the former Château de Sceaux, destroyed in 1790 (17 th and 18 th century plans of it are in the collections of the Nationalmuseum of Stockholm), having known a golden age between 1702 and 1715, thanks to the brilliance of the personality of the Duchess of Maine (see François de Troy , Dominique Brême, Somogy, 1997, p.55 to 65).
The property had been acquired in 1699 by the Duc du Maine from the widow of the Marquis Jean-Baptiste Colbert de Seignelay, son of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Louis XIV’s famous Minister of Finance.
The three figures in the scene are shown here in the apartments of the Duchess, in the south wing of the ground floor, in the public area accessible from the main entrance. This is in all probability what used to be Colbert’s office, with the busts representing figures from Antiquity described in earlier accounts of it present in our painting. On the right, the room gives onto a bookcase, decorated with a barometer. The clock, its face supported on either side by Time and Love, was added by the Duchess. On it, the shield of her coat of arms is visible, as is that of her husband, between the two consoles.
The connection between François de Troy and the Duc du Maine began in 1691 with a first portrait of the duke accompanied by his sister, Mademoiselle de Nantes. He subsequently did several other representations: one was documented in Dresden circa 1692, two others are only known through the engravings done of them by Drevet, and finally, one last one, dating from 1715, is today in the Musée de l’Ile de France in Sceaux. As far as representations of the Duchesse du Maine by de Troy, we know of only one: an allegorical portrait of the duchess as Cleopatra (Versailles, Musée National du Château), with several copies and replicas also inventoried. De Troy also painted their son Louis-Auguste at least three times: the first portrait was exhibited at the Salon in 1704; the second, from 1712, is in the collections of the Town Hall of Trévoux; the last is known only through an engraving of it by Desrochers.
Our painting (exceptionally rich in color, with skilled draftsmanship and an inventive composition) allows us to enter into the intimacy of the apartments of the Duchess of Maine.
Anne-Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon-Condé (1676-1753), granddaughter of the Grand Condé, called Mademoiselle de Charolais, was the daughter of Henri-Jules de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, and of Anne of Bavaria. She married the Duke of Maine (1670-1736), Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, legitimate son of Louis XIV and the Marquise de Montespan, on March 19, 1692.
A preparatory drawing of the Duchess of Maine was sold at public auction (F. de Troy, Portrait of a Lady Sitting in an Armchair and Holding a Mirror before Her , Drouot, 18 April 1984, n°81). It allows us to reconstruct with certainty the working methods of de Troy, who used a model to establish the pose, with the duchess sitting only for the study of her face.
The Duchess of Maine is here quite recognizable by her small stature (La Palatine described her as being “no bigger than a ten year old child”), her large mouth and her make-up, which was often described as excessive. She wears a satin dress trimmed with gold embroidery, as well as a blue velvet-silk cloak with fleurs-de-lis, in recognition of her rank. With one hand, she gestures towards the large book sitting in front of her, next to an armillary sphere indicating the positions of the sun and the planets, and various copper instruments of measurement, among them a protractor and calipers.
Seated facing her, on a stool and not in an armchair, to indicate the difference in their ranks, is Nicolas de Malézieu (1650-1729), a major figure at the court of Sceaux. Hellenist and mathematician, he was tutor to the Duc du Maine, and introduced Bossuet to his circle. Member if the Académie Royale des Sciences and author of Elements de Géométrie (1715), he was fascinated by the study of stars and had an observatory built for his astronomical observations at his home in Châtenay.
Here, he is shown enumerating the planets (in response to the Duchess of Maine who is gesturing toward the celestial globe); he was also a man of letters, and was received into the Académie Française in 1701. Translator, author of poems, stories and playlets which he performed himself, he organized theatrical and musical evenings at Sceaux. A certain number of his texts were published in 1712 in Les Divertissemens de Seaux.
He is here costumed for a performance, undoubtedly to show the point to which scientific studies and festivities succeeded one another at this court.
Malézieu is easily recognizable by his long nose, his protruding eyes and the deep indentation in his forehead, as one can see in the portrait engraved by Edelinck (BNF, Cabinet des Estampes, Db 14 + , f°36) after the painting by François de Troy, exhibited at the Salon of 1704, but now lost (a copy of this portrait is in the collections of the Château de Versailles, MV.2946).
Famous for his poor sight, Malézieu had received the nickname “Mal aux yeux” (“Sore Eyes”) as the last figure in our painting reminds us: the Abbé Genest is shown on the threshold of the doorway, holding up a magnifying glass.
Factotum at the Court of Sceau, Charles-Claude Genest (1639-1719) had been a military officer before becoming an abbot. Member of the Académie Française (1698), like Malézieu, he was described thusly by Sainte-Beuve in his Causeries du Monday : “The Abbé Genest was to the princes that which they have loved throughout the ages (even ours): a mixture of poet and buffoon.“ (vol. 3, Garnier, Paris, 1858, p.213).
Among the most remarkable personalities at the court, one may point to the Abbé Guillaume Amfrye de Chaulieu, Joseph La Grange-Chancel, and, a little later, Voltaire, who wrote Zadig at the Château de Sceaux, Montesquieu, d’Alembert and even the Comte de Caylus.
With the spectacular and ambitious Banquet of Dido and Aeneas (Salon de 1704), recently acquired by the Musée de l’Ile-de-France, our painting was the most important commission given to de Troy for Sceaux. (In the painting of the banquet, one notes, in addition to the duke and the duchess, the presence of some members of their court, among them Malézieu and the Abbé Genest)
Aside from our painting and that in the Musée de l’Ile de France, another version of the painting is known (see The Astronomy Lesson for the Duchess du Maine by Georges Poisson, in La Revue du Louvre, 1989-4, p. 242, and p. 244, note 23). Described in the article as a replica of lesser quality, it has remained in the Malézieu family.
