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• Culture Minister Defers Export Of A Portrait Of Louis XVI By Antoine-Francois Callet In A Frame By Francois-Charles Buteux

Culture Minister Defers Export Of A Portrait Of Louis XVI By Antoine-Francois Callet In A Frame By Francois-Charles Buteux

The Minister's ruling follows a recommendation by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest, run by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. The Committee recommended that the export decision be deferred on the grounds that the ensemble of portrait and frame is of outstanding aesthetic importance and of outstanding significance for the study of art history, the history of frame design and of ambassadorial practice.

This is a very rare, if not unique, example in Britain of a pre-Revolutionary portrait of a French monarch for diplomatic use which still retains its original frame which is integral to the meaning and interpretation of the painting. All the elements of such portraits, from the pose and costume of the monarch, to the over-blown iconography of the frame, were designed to underline the standing of the ambassador as the personal representative of a foreign power.  In the case of this portrait the frame is particularly elaborate, and is attributed to the carver François-Charles Buteux. 

This portrait is one of a series of portraits of Louis XVI by Antoine-François Callet (1741-1823) given as gifts from the King and for diplomatic use. This particular one was provided for an ambassador, Comte d'Adhémar, who was sent to England in 1783. This was a time when France was especially  keen to restore good relationships with Britain at the end of the American War of Independence, in which France had taken the side of the emergent nation. A 1780 design for the frame of at least one of these portraits contains bold propaganda in favour of the American cause, but this is not featured in the frame of this portrait, which contains no references to the new country and emphasises the royal crown as the King of France advanced the hand of friendship to the British monarch.

The decision on the export licence application for the portrait will be deferred for a period ending on 19 June inclusive. This period may be extended until 19 September inclusive if a serious intention to raise funds with a view to making an offer to purchase the portrait at the recommended price of £775,000 is expressed.

Offers from public bodies for less than the recommended price through the private treaty sale arrangements, where appropriate, will also be considered by David Lammy. Such purchases frequently offer substantial financial benefit to both parties by the sharing of tax advantages.

Anyone interested in making an offer to purchase the portrait should contact the owner's agent through:
 
The Secretary
The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest
Museums, Libraries and Archives Council,
Victoria House,
Southampton Row
London WC1B 4EA

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Notes to Editors

1. From April 2005, responsibility for administering the work of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest (RCEWA) was passed by DCMS to the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA). Media enquiries on the operation and casework arising from RCEWA and from the Acceptance in Lieu and Government Indemnity Schemes and the export licence system should go to Sharene Chatfield on 020 7273 1459, email sharene.chatfield@mla.gov.uk

2. The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest is an independent body, run by MLA, which advises the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on whether a cultural object, intended for export, is of national importance under specified criteria. Where the Committee finds that an object meets one or more of the criteria, it will normally recommend that the decision on the export licence application should be deferred for a specified period. An offer may then be made from within the United Kingdom at or above the fair market price.

3. Pictures of these items can be downloaded free of charge from the MLA site on Pixmedia. Please go to: http://www.pixmedia.co.uk/25/folder/618

4. This portrait is one of a series of portraits of Louis XVI by Antoine-François Callet (1741-1823) given as gifts from the King and for diplomatic use. Callet was primarily a history painter, but his portraits of Louis XVI in coronation robes are considered among his most important works. He  became official painter to Louis XVI in 1778, when he was commissioned to paint the full-length state portrait, of which this is a version.  In this painting Callet paraphrased the famous painting by Hyacinthe Rigaud of Louis XIV in coronation robes of 1701, a formula that the same artist and others repeated for Louis XV, and others returned to repeatedly, not only for Louis  XVI (Duplessis, Callet) but also later for the emperor, Napoleon I (Gérard, Girodet, Lefevre) and for Charles X (Ingres, Gérard).  Though Napoleon III decided against a coronation, his state portrait by Winterhalter owes its pose to this tradition.  In all, twelve copies of the full-length version were made, between 1781 and 1786. This version is the third, for which payment (3000 livres) was made on 19 January 1782.

5. The intricate and impressive frame was carved by François-Charles Buteux (1732-88), the son of a decorative carver, who held the office of 'sculpteur des batiments du roi et de la chambre du comte d'Artois'. He is best known for the frames that he supplied for this series of portraits of Louis XVI and for other paintings given by the king as presents. The body of the frame itself is relatively simple in form, but it is surmounted by an impressive cresting showing the royal regalia in full, with military trophies laid aside, the royal arms to the fore, and the main de justice and the crown over all.  The finely-carved swags of ribbon-tied flowers are most indicative of Buteux' skill as a carver, and suggest the celebration and rapprochement, which was the purpose of the embassy, in place of recent conflict.

 6.  The frame design of 1780 for at least one of the series of portraits constituted propaganda in favour of the American cause. A notice on the back of the design which describes it reads as follows when translated into English. 'The allegory of the 13 united provinces of North America is shown on one side by the cap, symbol of Liberty, and by the club and rattle-snake: the sceptre of the King is shown with them. On the other side by a feather cap and a scaly quiver, with the main de justice, which favours the cause of America.' The frame of this particular portrait contains no reference to the new country, with arms laid aside and rather more emphasis on the royal crown. 

7.       An inscription on a plaque on the lower edge of the frame reads: 'DONNÉ PAR LE ROI/ À Mr le Cte  D'ADHÉMAR/ SON AMBASSADEUR EXTRAORDINAIRE/ AUPRÈS DE SON MAJESTÉ BRITTANIQUE/ EN L'ANNÉE 1783.  Other versions of this portrait with similarly elaborate frames are known.  One was sent to the Austrian court in Vienna in 1781-3 and is now in Schloss Ambras.  Another was sent to Comte d'Aranda, ambassador in Madrid, in 1783 and is now in the Prado.  A third is in the collection of Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor. The Windsor version is said to have been presented to the Prince Regent by Louis XVIII.

8. The Powderham portrait was sent to London with Comte d'Adhémar,  ambassador to the court of St James, in February 1783, soon after the preliminary articles of peace in the American war had been signed in November 1782, but well before the Treaty of Paris which ended the war formally was signed in September 1783. Comte d'Adhémar had been a career soldier before he was appointed as chevalier d'honneur to Mme Elisabeth in 1778.  He was sent to London to foster a new era of co-operation between France and England, one that was to lead, in 1786, to the trade treaty known as the Vergennes or Eden Treaty.  D'Adhémar moved in the circle of the Queen at Versailles, but in London he seems never to have made much of a figure. In 1787 he was recalled to France, where his wife served as lady-in-waiting to Marie Antoinette. He died in 1791.

9. It is not known precisely how the portrait came into the possession of William, 3rd Viscount Courtenay and 9th Earl of Devon (1768-1835), but it is known that it was hanging in the Music Room in 1803, even before the scheme for that room was fully completed. The Music Room was built in the years after the 3rd Marquess came of age in 1791, to the designs of James Wyatt.  The project seems to have taken a number of years, with work starting in 1794-6, but continuing until at least 1803, when the carpet for the room was delivered.  The position of the portrait of 'the late king of France', opposite the chimneypiece, suggests that it was considered an important element of the interior, and was perhaps crucial in determining the very strong French style of its decoration. The portrait has, in recent years, hung opposite the portrait of Courtenay himself in masquerade costume painted by Cosway in 1792.

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