(Maastricht 1750–1812 Heidelberg)
Portrait of Louis François, Marquis de Chambray (1737–1807); and
Portrait of Marie-Angélique, Marquise de Chambray, née de Rouillé,
the first signed and indistinctly dated lower left: JF (ligated). Tischbein,
the second signed and dated lower right: JF (ligated). Tischbein f. 1776,
oil on canvas, oval, each 64.5 x 54 cm, framed, a pair (2)

Provenance:
sale, Dorotheum, Vienna, 30 April 2019, lot 613;
where acquired by Roy T. Eddleman (1940–2022)

Louis François Marquis de Chambray, a member of an old noble family from Normandy, was a self-taught composer and a distinguished military officer. In April 1762, he married Marie-Angélique de Rouillé, the daughter of a French councillor at the highest court in Paris. Musical compositions by the Marquis preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France are known from the years 1759 to 1766 and orientate themselves in form towards the Mannheim School and in melody towards Italian music. In 1788 he was appointed Maréchal de Camp and the following year he represented the City of Evreux in the ‘États Generaux’. A defender of the Ancien Régime, he was soon forced to emigrate and moved to Vienna, where he spent the rest of his life.

Also known as the ‘Leipzig Tischbein’, the painter Johann Friedrich August Tischbein came from the Hessian artist family Tischbein. He was schooled from 1768–1772 in Kassel by his uncle Johann Heinrich Tischbein (1722–1789) before travelling extensively through France, Italy and the Netherlands, and subsequently working in Dessau and Leipzig. He spent time studying in Paris between 1772 and 1777, where the present pair of portraits most likely were produced. As a recognized portrait painter, he created a large number of portraits for various princely courts, noble families and the growing bourgeoisie throughout Europe until his death in 1812. His two daughters Caroline and Elisabeth Tischbein and his son Carl Wilhelm also became artists and musicians.

Sale proceeds of this lot will benefit the Eddleman Quantum Institute, a non-profit organisation dedicated to advancing science and technology through quantum research.