Provenance

Commissioned by François-Jules Duvaucel [1672-1739] for a salon in the Château de La Norville, France; remained in the Château through successive owners until between 1901 and 1906; (Fauché, Paris), by 1907;[1] purchased 1922 through (André Carlhian, Paris) by Dr. Alexander Hamilton Rice [1875-1956] and his wife, Eleanor Elkins Widener Rice [1861-1937], for the dining room of their Fifth Avenue mansion, New York;[2] by inheritance 1956 to Mrs. Rice's children, George D. Widener, Jr. [1889-1971] and Eleanor Widener Dixon [1891-1966, Mrs. Fitz Eugene Dixon]; gift 1957 to NGA.
[1] The history of the decoration of the Château de La Norville was discovered and thoroughly described by Bruno Pons, Grands décors français, 1650-1800: reconstitués en Angleterre, aux Etats-Unis, en Amérique du Sud et en France, Dijon, 1995: 221-426. The author first notified the NGA of his findings in 1993. See also Abbé A.E. Genty, Histoire de la Norville et de sa seigneurie, Paris, 1885: 112-129.
[2] Mrs. Rice was born Eleanor Elkins in Philadelphia; her first husband was George Dunton Widener, who perished with their elder son, Harry, in the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. She married Dr. Alexander Hamilton Rice in 1915; her two other children with Widener inherited the New York residence after Dr. Rice's death.
Records of the Carlhian firm are in the Special Collections of the Research Library at The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, California, accession number 930092. Copies of documents referring to the wall panelling are in NGA curatorial files; see in particular the letter of 6 July 1923 from André Carlhian to Mrs. Rice, in which he tells her that "the Pineau boiserie which you bought from Fauché comes from the Chateau de la Norville, near Arpajon - about 20 miles from Paris." Duveen Brothers, Inc., dealers with branches in London, New York, and Paris, were also involved with the building and furnishing of the Rice mansion.

Associated Names

Bibliography

2009

Wikidata ID

Q62286428