Portrait présumé de Jean Philippe d'Orléans (1702-1748), Grand Prieur de France, en armure, à mi-corps, un navire dans la tempête à l'arrière-plan

ÉCOLE FRANÇAISE DU XVIIIe SIÈCLE, ATELIER DE JEAN-MARC NATTIER
Portrait présumé de Jean Philippe d'Orléans (1702-1748), Grand Prieur de France, en armure, à mi-corps, un navire dans la tempête à l'arrière-plan
huile sur toile
82 x 65 cm (32¹⁄₄ x 25⁵⁄₈ in.)

Possiblement dans la vente de l'artiste [Cabinet de M. D***], Paris, 27 juin 1763 (comme 'Un Portrait de M. le Chevalier d'Orléans, en buste & en cuirasse, bordure dorée') ;
Possiblement acquis au cours de celle-ci par François-Charles Joullain (vers 1734-1790), graveur et marchand.
George Harland-Peck, Esq., 9 Belgrave Square, Londres ; sa vente après décès, Christie, Manson & Woods, Londres, 25 juin 1920, lot 113 (comme un portrait de Philippe, duc d'Orléans, Grand Prieur de France par Jean-Marc Nattier) ;
Acquis au cours de celle-ci par Peacock.
Sir Frances Hercy, 80 South Audley Street, Londres (selon le catalogue de vente de 1992, op. cit. infra) ;
Puis par héritage à David Russell Russell (1896-1968), Royaume-Uni ;
Puis par descendance à son fils, David Russell (né en 1927) ; vente anonyme, Christie's, Londres, 10 juillet 1992, lot 24 (comme Jean-Marc Nattier et atelier) ;
Vente anonyme, Christie's, Londres, 10 juillet 1992, lot 24 (comme un portrait de Jean-Philippe d'Orléans, Grand Prieur de France par Jean-Marc Nattier et atelier) ;
Acquis au cours de celle-ci par l'actuel propriétaire.

Possiblement L. Dimier, Les peintres français du XVIIIe Siècle. Histoire des vies et catalogue des oeuvres, Paris-Bruxelles, 1930, II, p. 132, n°10 (comme 'Le chevalier d'Orléans, Grand Prieur, en buste - perdu').
G. Wildenstein, 'Sur un portrait peint par Nattier', Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1961, 103e année, 6e période, LVII, p. 378 (comme 'Un autre portrait du [Grand Prieur] en cuirasse, avec une pose différente, de la collection Harland Peck a été attribué à Nattier').
Possiblement P. Renard, Jean-Marc Nattier (1685-1766). Un artiste parisien à la cour de Louis XV, Saint-Rémy-en-l'Eau, 1999, p. 177 et p. 215 (sous le tableau exposé au Salon de 1745).
D. Russell, David Russell. Self-portrait of the painter, 2009, Morrisville, p. 108 et p. 131, reproduit en noir et blanc p. 108.

Possiblement Paris, Salon, 1745, n°100 (comme 'Un Buste de M. le Grand Prieur').
Londres, Burlington Fine Arts Club, French Art of the Eighteenth Century, été 1913, n°31 (comme Jean-Marc Nattier).

FRENCH SCHOOL 18th CENTURY, WORKSHOP OF JEAN-MARC NATTIER, PORTRAIT OF A MAN TRADITIONALLY IDENTIFIED AS JEAN PHILIPPE D'ORLÉANS (1702-1748), GRAND PRIEUR DE FRANCE, IN ARMOUR, HALF-LENGTH, WITH A SHIP IN A STORM IN THE BACKGROUND, OIL ON CANVAS

The sitter in this portrait is Jean-Philippe d'Orléans (1702-1748), illegitimate son of the Duke of Orléans (1674-1723), Regent from 1715 to 1723, and the Countess of Argenton (1694-1748), former lady-in-waiting to the Regent's mother, Elisabeth-Charlotte of Bavaria (1652-1722). Born in 1702 but not officially recognised until 1706, Jean-Philippe d'Orléans was appointed General of the French Galleys in 1716, and Grand Prior of the Order of St John of Jerusalem in 1719 following the resignation of the Chevalier de Vendôme (1655-1727). In the same year, he took the oath of Malta, becoming the commendatory abbot of Hautvillers Abbey in the Marne from 1721.
Jean-Philippe d'Orléans was also a major patron of Nattier (1685-1766), to whom he entrusted the creation of a gallery of portraits of great men in his Paris home, the Palais du Grand Prieur, which had been started by the painter Raoux (1677-1734). A monumental portrait of Jean-Philippe d'Orléans by Nattier was the masterpiece of the collection, occupying according to Madame Tocqué the main end of the palace gallery (see X. Salmon, Jean Marc Nattier, Paris, 1999, p. 105). It was exhibited by Nattier at the Salon of 1738 and described by Neufville de Brunaubois Montador (1707-1770) (idem) as ‘[the] lord painted standing, in cuirass, the baton of command in his hand, his left elbow resting on a block of marble [...]. The background of this painting is a port from which the galleys set sail'. Although the location of the full-length portrait is now unknown, a sketch for it exhibited by Nattier at the Salon of 1745 is, according to Wildenstein, the same painting as the one in the painter's sale held in 1763 (see above), described on that occasion as ‘Une esquisse représentant le portrait de M. le Chevalier d'Orléans en buste et cuirasse’. According to Wildenstein, the 1745 sketch is the painting now in the Louvre (Paris, inv. no. MI 1092), which does show a man in cuirass wearing the insignia of the Order of Malta (G. Wildenstein, 1961, op. cit. supra). However, the facial features of this young man do not bear a close resemblance to those in an engraving after a portrait of Jean-Philippe d'Orléans by Jean Raoux. The present portrait, showing a man with a slightly elongated face and a bulging breastplate adorned with an imposing Maltese cross, seems to be closer to this engraving, an unmistakable representation of the Grand Prior of France. Given this, it is possible that Wildenstein was mistaken, and it is in fact the present painting that was in the painter's posthumous sale.