Claude Michel Duplessis (versailles, 18th Century), Pair Of Paintings Depicting Horsemen

Claude Michel Hamon Duplessis (active in Versailles from 1791 to 1799)
One signed lower right, the other lower left: “M. h. Duplessis”

Pair of paintings: Knight near an Inn/Camp with Tent and Travelers

Oil on panel

27 x 37 cm Framed: 55 x 45 cm.

Provenance: Christie’s, Paris, auction of September 14, 2016, lot 50, estimate €6,000–8,000 (see details)

This is a pair of landscapes featuring knights and travelers, painted in oil on panel and signed by the artist Claude Michel Hamon Duplessis, who was active primarily in Paris during the second half of the 18th century and is specifically documented in Versailles from 1790 to 1799.
One painting depicts a distinguished horseman, wearing a bright red cloak and riding a white horse, who has stopped near an inn: he points with his hand toward a building in the distance—perhaps his destination—as if asking the woman with the child for directions.
The second painting shows two tents in a landscape; one of them, with a wreath hanging from it, is identified as a typical roadside inn, which served to entertain and supply travelers on horseback. In front of it, three men are unloading provisions from a wagon, and to the side there are empty supply baskets, along with farmers and their livestock.
The brilliant quality of the color, the precise and fluid brushwork, the richness of detail, and the smoothness of the painted surface of these works—which are in excellent condition—are typical characteristics of Duplessis’s finest works; specializing in scenes of this kind—often featuring horsemen, soldiers, or travelers taking a break—the artist’s style, with its Italianate flavor, is also influenced by Flemish examples, in a blend that enjoyed great success in 18th-century Paris.
His works display remarkable elegance, and his compositions particularly reflect the influence of Philips Wouwerman (Haarlem, 1619–1668), as can be seen by examining the catalog of his works; see, for example, those housed at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg (see B. Schumacher, *Philips Wouwermans (1619–1668), the horse painter of the Golden Age*, Doornspijk 2006, no. A 459, vol. 2, fig. 72).
Works by the painter can be found in the French museums of Besançon (“Outskirts of a Camp”) and Bayeux (“On the Banks of a Canal in Flanders”).

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
The works are sold complete with two attractive wooden frames and are accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and a descriptive iconographic sheet.
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