The Bedroom, Attributed To Jean-baptiste Charpentier (1728-1806)

The Rising of the Sun or The Chamber Attributed to Jean-Baptiste Charpentier Oil on canvas 58.5 x 43.5 cm (excluding frame) 78 x 57 cm The painting is presented in a very fine 18th-century Louis XVI frame in carved and gilded wood. A descendant of Jean Charpentier, a Parisian painter and gilder, Jean-Baptiste Charpentier was admitted to the Academy of Saint Luke in 1760 and became a professor there. He exhibited portraits and genre scenes for many years. He entered the service of Louis-Jean-Marie de Bourbon, Duke of Penthièvre, a very comfortable position. The prince commissioned him to paint his portraits and depict his family, which he wished to be portrayed as regularly and frequently as possible. The full-length portrait of the Duke of Penthièvre can be admired at the Museum of Fine Arts in Rennes. He married Anne-Catherine Le Prince, sister of the famous painter Jean-Baptiste Le Prince. He exhibited at the Salon between 1780 and 1785. The abolition of the privileges of academicians during the Revolution opened the doors of the Louvre Salon wide to him, where he exhibited from 1791 to 1799. This intimate moment takes place in the bedroom of a young noblewoman. Standing before her dressing table, where perfume bottles are placed, she holds a veil covering her hips, her smiling face turned towards the mirror. Her maid helps her dress; the blue silk gown is laid on a magnificent Louis XVI armchair in giltwood upholstered in orange velvet. The painter offers us an intimate, refined scene in which he elegantly depicts the unclothed body of a young woman at her toilette.