Thomas Gaugain (c.1756-c.1805) was born in Abbeville, France.
Gaugain became very successful with his portraits and fashionable paintings of the latest novels and plays; he also created engravings for those who could not afford an original (Hogarth had done the same).
This charming image illustrates a scene from Marmontel's play 'The Shepherdess of the Alps' which became the rage in England and France and inspired many paintings and prints. It tells the tragic story of a forbidden love affair between two young French aristocrats. In spite of their family's objections Adelaide and her lover, the Count d'Orestan, run away together; but their happiness is short lived when the count tragically dies.
A grief stricken Adelaide renounces the world and becomes a shepherdess. She at last finds happiness after she reveals her true identity to a French nobleman, Fonrose.
Size: framed 31.75 x 38.5 inches
unframed: 25 x 31.5 inches
Provenance:
Verso; an early 20th c. label from the famous dealer Roger Warner of Burford whose collection once held this painting:-
'I am of course prepared to assure your client positively that his Gaugain is an original and not a copy. Apart from the fact that I am not quite unknown myself in connection with such matters, in the course of the last few years it has been seen by a considerable number of well-known authorities in my house.....Humphrey Brooke, Secretary of the R.A. expressed the view to me that it should have been included on the Exhibition of the First 100 Years of the R.A. It is both painted and engraved by Gaugain'.
A Cheltenham Private Collection
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Roy and nadine precious: specialists in portraiture from the 16th to the 20th century. Established in 1972.
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Sold....'the Shepherdess of the Alps' by Thomas Gaugain
