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Portrait of Madame Salomon (?)

Unidentified artist, French, 18th century

Unidentified artist

Jean Baptiste Isabey (French, 1767–1855)

about 1790

Medium/TechniqueGouache on card

Dimensions16.5 x 13.3 cm (6 1/2 x 5 1/4 in.)

Credit LineBequest of Forsyth Wickes—The Forsyth Wickes Collection

Accession number65.2671

On View

Not on view

ClassificationsMiniatures

Collections

Europe

InscriptionsInscribed in pen on paper pasted to the back of the frame:"Portrait de Madame Salomon ayant appartenue au General Pichegru. Il jaiait que le General ne se seperait, jamais de ce portrait. Il l'avant laisse en garde de Madame Salomon elle meme le dernier sejour qu'il fit chez elle au Chateau de Blotzheim Haut Rhin selone qu'il Commondait l'armée du Rhin. Je tien ce portrait de ma mere." Blotzheim 12 Juillet 1841.ProvenanceGeneral Jean-Charles Pichegru (b. 1761- d. 1804); given by General Pichegru to Madame de Salomon (possibly Marie-Anne-Catherine-Joséphine de Salomon), Blotzheim Castle, Haut-Rhin. 1841, unidentified collector, possibly one of Mme. Salomon’s children [see note 1]. Possibly sold by Adolphe Le Groupy (dealer), Paris, to Forsyth Wickes (b. 1876 - d. 1964), New York and Newport, RI [see note 2]; 1965, bequest of Forsyth Wickes to the MFA. (Accession date: January 8, 1969).

NOTES:
[1] A note on the back of the frame, dated July 12, 1841, identifies the miniature as a portrait of Madame Salomon of Blotzheim Castle, which belonged to General Jean-Charles Pichegru (b. 1761- d.1804), commander of the Rhine army. The unidentified author notes that he or she received the portrait from his or her mother, sometime after General Pichegru left it with Mme Salomon on his last visit to Blotzheim. According to Dr. Joseph Schmidlin in “Geschichte des Sundgaus” (1906, pp. 470-473), Pierre-Nicolas de Salomon (b.1734 - d.1799) lived in Blotzheim Castle during the French Revolution (1789-1799), opening his home to revolutionary generals. Ernest Lehr in “L’Alsace Noble” (1870, p. 110) identifies Pierre-Nicolas’ wife as Marie-Anne-Catherine-Joséphine de Salomon (m. 1780). Madame de Salomon has also been identified by E. Daudet in “La Conjuration de Pichegru” (1901, p. 74) as Mme de Salomon de Florimont, and by Gustaff Caudriller in “La Trahison de Pichegru” (1908, p. 44) as Mme Salomon, née Neef. Additionally, Caudriller notes that General Pichegru made a visit to Blotzheim Castle in August of 1795 to visit his mistress, Mme Salomon.

[2] According to Eric M. Zafran, in "The Forsyth Wickes Collection" (1992, p. 330).