Beschreibung:

Jean-Jacques LagrenéeParis 1739 - 1821Vestals making a sacrifice in the interior of a temple
signed on the step lower left: Lagreneeoil on panelpanel: 16¼ by 13¾ in.; 41.3 by 34.9 cm.framed: 22¼ by 18½ in.; 56.5 by 47 cm.Condition reportThe work is executed on a single panel which is slightly vertically bowed. It is executed on a single board which is stable, as is the paint surface which appears recently cleaned and bright. UV light reveals only a few scattered retouches in the composition, including a vertical line to the right of center, approximately 4 inches from the top. Also a small area in the sky of the column second from right as well as a couple small cosmetic re-touches in the dark upper left background; as well as a couple of retouches in the bottom left corner. These are all cosmetic, and the picture could certainly be hung and its current state. In carved gilt wood frame.
The lot is sold in the condition it is in at the time of sale. The condition report is provided to assist you with assessing the condition of the lot and is for guidance only. Any reference to condition in the condition report for the lot does not amount to a full description of condition. The images of the lot form part of the condition report for the lot. Certain images of the lot provided online may not accurately reflect the actual condition of the lot. In particular, the online images may represent colors and shades which are different to the lot's actual color and shades. The condition report for the lot may make reference to particular imperfections of the lot but you should note that the lot may have other faults not expressly referred to in the condition report for the lot or shown in the online images of the lot. The condition report may not refer to all faults, restoration, alteration or adaptation. The condition report is a statement of opinion only. For that reason, the condition report is not an alternative to taking your own professional advice regarding the condition of the lot. NOTWITHSTANDING THIS ONLINE CONDITION REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE/BUSINESS APPLICABLE TO THE RESPECTIVE SALE.ProvenanceMrs. R.G. Walker, Bramshott Court, Hampshire;
Her sale, London, Christies,11 June 1928, lot 28 (as Angelica Kauffman);
Private Collection, Switzerland.LiteratureExplication des peintures, sculptures et gravures, de Messieurs de l’Académie royale, dont l’exposition a été ordonnée, suivant l’intention de Sa Majesté, par M. le Comte de La Billardrie [sic] d’Angiviller…,  Paris 1777, Imprimerie de la veuve Herissant, cat. 29 (as ‘Des Vestales faisant un Sacrifice dans l’intérieur de leur Temple. De 15 pouces de haut, sur 13 de large.’);
M. Sandoz, "Jean-Jacques Lagrenée, peintre d’histoire (1739-1821)", in Bulletin de la Société de l’Histoire de l’art français, Paris 1962, pp. 121-132;
M. Sandoz, Les Lagrenée, II. Jean-Jacques Lagrenée (le jeune), 1739-1821, Tours 1988, pp. 204-205, cat. no. 76.ExhibitedParis, Salon du Louvre, 25 August – October 1777. Catalogue noteThis recently rediscovered signed painting by Jean-Jacques Lagrenée was first exhibited at the Salon du Louvre in 1777 and was thought lost ever since.1 However, comparison with Gabriel de Saint Aubin's sketch in his copy of the Salon exhibition catalogue (fig. 1), and the given dimensions, there can be little doubt that this is the painting exhibited in 1777 by Lagrenée. The date of the exhibition furthermore provides a terminus ad quem for its execution.
Jean-Jacques Lagrenée was a pupil of his elder brother Louis-Jean-François-(1725-1805), also a painter. He won second prize in the Prix de Rome in 1760 and was granted permission to stay at the Académie de France à Rome between 1763 and 1768. Having settled in Paris, Jean-Jacques was approved (agrée) by the Académie Royale in 1769 and received as a full member six years later in 1775, becoming adjoint à professeur in 1776 and professeur in 1781. 
Jean-Jacques was an accomplished decorative painter, executing ceilings in the Galerie d'Apollon in the Louvre, and also receiving numerous religious commissions, such as the cycle for the royal chapel at Fontainebleau. He later experimented with painting on glass and porcelain, assuming the position of artistic director of the Manufacture de Sèvres from 1785 to 1800. Lagrenée's easel paintings are almost exclusively history pictures and, like his elder brother and Jean-Marie Vien, he was particularly attracted to subjects of ancient history. His style perfectly conforms to the French neoclassical aesthetic of the last quarter of the 18th century and this painting is no exception: the figures are shown in dramatic poses, their theatrical gestures carried out with measured restraint; and the classical architecture, with its elegant classical proportions, frames the scene perfectly, rather like a backdrop in a stage set.
1.  In 1988, in his catalogue raisonné, Marc Sandoz writes about this painting: ‘Après le Salon le tableau ne paraît plus mentionné, et sa trace se perd. […] Localisat. : non connue’ [: following the Salon the panel doesn’t seem to be mentioned and the trail goes cold […] Location: Unknown]. He also highlights that ‘la critique contemporaine ne semble pas mentionner le tableau.’ [contemporary criticism doesn’t seem to mention the panel]. In his first study on Lagrenée in 1962, Sandoz mentions this reputedly lost work.