Beschreibung:

francisco-xavier-de-salazar-y-mendoza" title="Jose Francisco Xavier de Salazar y Mendoza">Jose Francisco Xavier de Salazar y Mendoza (Mexican/New Orleans, 1750-1802) "Portrait of Marie Cesaire Dreux de Gentilly (1781-1826) and Her Step-Mother, Genevieve Felicite Trudeau de Longueuil Dreux (1770-1802)", ca. 1787-1789 oil on canvas faintly signed lower left. Framed. 36-1/4" x 30", framed 46-1/4" x 39" Provenance: With the sitter Marie Cesaire Dreux de Gentilly Verret, thence by descent; her son (Theodule) Jules Verret (1817-1896); his son Honore A. Verret (1861-1952); his daughter Azelie Verret Bechac (1907-1978); her daughter (the Estate of ) Eulalie Jeanne Bechac Fabacher (1930-2020), River Ridge, Louisiana. Literature: Grace King, Creole Families of New Orleans, (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1921); Josh Foreman and Ryan Starrett, Hidden History of New Orleans, (Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press, 2020); Henry P. Dart, ed., The Louisiana Historical Quarterly, Volume 6, No. 1, (Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Jones Printing Company, 1924); Various, Illustrated Guide and Sketchbook to New Orleans, (New York: Will. H. Coleman, 1885); Cybele Gontar, ed., Salazar, (New Orleans: Ogden Museum of Southern Art/University of New Orleans Press, nd); Mrs. T.N.C. Bruns, Louisiana Portraits, (New Orleans: National Society of the Colonial Dames of America, 1975); John Burton Harter and Mary Louise Tucker, The Louisiana Portrait Gallery Volume I to 1870, (New Orleans: The Louisiana State Museum, 1979) Notes: This impressive double portrait of Marie-Cesaire Dreux de Gentilly and her stepmother Genevieve Felicite Trudeau de Longueuil Dreux by Jose Francisco Xavier de Salazar was commissioned by Guy Dreux de Gentilly around the time of his 1787 marriage (or very shortly thereafter) to Genevieve and is a stunning visual representation of the joining of his two families and testament to his high regard for both his young daughter and his new wife. Salazar was the first identified portraitist working in the city, and his portraits of the most prominent members of Louisiana society - social, military and religious - serve as significant historical records. This portrait reveals numerous stylistic qualities of the artist; it is rendered in deep, rich tones, with the three-quarter-length figures against a vague dark background and encircled in a phantom tondo. All the expected accoutrements of wealth and prestige are evident: the layers of intricate handmade lace, the sumptuous fabrics, and the matching delicate coral and gold jewelry. In the upper right corner is an unexpected element: the faint shadow of two fine tassels hanging from the draperies. The two figures gaze directly at the viewer with half smiles, but their bodies are turned slightly towards each other creating a sense of intimacy and affection. The young girl has a bird perched on her finger, and she and her stepmother touch hands as the older woman holds a rounded fruit, a symbol of fecundity and fruitfulness. On her father's side, Marie Cesaire was a direct descendant of the founders of New Orleans; her grandfather was Mathurin Dreux who sailed from the Port of La Rochelle, France to Nouvelle Orleans in 1719 with the Concession of Sieur Mazy to join his brother Pierre who was already in the new city and is probably the Dreux mentioned in early documents as being with Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville (the several times Governor of French Louisiana) at the founding of the city in 1718. In recognition for their crucial role in the early formation of the city, in 1725 the two Dreux brothers were ceded their choice of land; they astutely, and somewhat surprisingly, chose land adjacent to the natural levee of Bayou St. John. They had seen firsthand the devastation of the Vieux Carre by a hurricane in 1722 and wisely wanted to settle on higher ground. For reasons never clearly determined, the brothers referred to the area as Gentilly (though some recent scholarship suggests it was initially Chantilly for the Duke of Bourbon's Chateau du Chantilly); they soon became know