Pair of portraits, Louis XV period, pastels by Pierre Joseph Lion, called Lion de Dinant, personal painter of the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria and Joseph II. They depict Mr. and Mrs. Aubriet, a couple of rich notables, clothed in delicate silk costumes. They were executed in Rheims (Reims - France) in 1769. Colors are soft, faces are elegant and well executed. Our paintings are presented in beautiful oval frames with Louis XVI gilt (gold leaf). The two portraits bear the P Lion signature. On the back of the man portrait "Mr Aubriet, born in 1716 painted by P. Lion de Dinant, painter of Her Majesty the Empress and Queen at Rheims in 1769, this 1st January" is written. Pierre Joseph Lion, born in 1729 in Dinant (Belgium) is a famous pastel painter of 18th century. Trained in Paris, he worked in England and then at the Court of Vienna for ten years. There he became the personal painter of the Empress Maria Theresa and Joseph II of which he made several portraits. These prestigious projects gave him great fame in his lifetime, with orders of all Austrian and European aristocracy, as well as diplomats and philosophers. His work is characterized by the delicacy of the work, the expression & beauty of the faces, the clean lines of the figures, equaling the virtuosity of the great eighteenth-century French pastel painters. In perfect condition.
Width : 65cm (pastel : 49cm)
Height : 92cm (pastel : 61cm)
