Chatelar Playing the Lute to Mary Queen of Scots(Henri Jean- Baptiste Victoire Fradelle)
Fradelle studied in Paris with Suvée and then in Italy. He settled in London in 1816 and exhibited there, at the Royal Academy and the British Institution, until 1855. During the ’30s he lived in Paris and exhibited at the Salon, where he won a third class medal in 1834. He specialized in subjects from British history, particularly as interpreted through the writings of Walter Scott, and his pictures, many of which were engraved, helped spread the interest in Scott and historical themes from England to France.
This picture of Mary Stuart and her secretary was engraved and published in France by J.P. M. Jazet in 1827. It is a typical “troubadour” work – small and intimate and filled with historical detail of furniture and costume.
Provenance: Private Collection, Australia.
Literature: Beth S. Wright, “The Auld Alliance in Nineteenth-Century French Painting: The Changing Concept of Mary Stuart, 1814-1833,” Arts Magazine, 58, March 1984, pl 106; New Orleans Museum of Art, New York Stair Sainty Matthiesen, Cincinnati Taft Museum of Art, Romance and Chivalry: Literature and History reflected in early nineteenth century painting, June 1996 February 1997, p. 262, fig. 189.
Exhibited: British Institution 1821, no. 254.