18th century French school (Workshop of Carle van Loo ) Allegories of the liberal arts: Painting, Music, Architecture, Sculpture Suite of four round oil paintings Diameter: 100 cm Allegories of liberal arts, set of four canvas, French School, 18th C. Provenance: Anonymous sale; Rodez, Hôtel de ventes Rouergue-Gevaudan, Me Falabrègues, 19 November 2006, n°50 ; Acquired at this sale by the current owners These are repeats with variations of compositions painted by Carle van Loo in 1752-1753 for Madame de Pompadour. The four canvases (87.5 x 84 cm each), exhibited at the Salon of 1753, adorned the Salon de compagnie of the Château de Bellevue and are now in the Fine Art Museum in San Francisco (nos. 1950. to 12). Thanks to the engravings made in 1756 by Etienne Fessard, these compositions were a great success (cf. P. Rosenberg and M.C. Stewart, French paintings 1500-1825, the Fine Art Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco, 1987, pp. 292-306). French school of the 18th century (Atelier de Carle van Loo)