François DUMONT (Lunéville, 1751 - Paris, 1831) Portrait of Augustin-Louis Taillandier (1774-1832), President of the Civil Court of Sens, standing at his desk holding a bundle of papers in one hand and a quill pen in the other and Portrait of his wife Sophie Philbert (1778-1832) playing the harp Pair of miniatures, watercolour and gum arabic on ivory inlaid in cardboard The portrait of the gentleman signed 'Dumont f l'an 3' lower right The portrait of Madame signed 'Dumont .f. / l'an. 3. me.' lower left CIC n° 2024/BE01820/CE & CIC n° 2024/BE01809/CE Oak and gilded stucco frames, French work of the Louis XVI period Inscription 'Augustin Louis Taill[...] / + on 22 August 1832 / in Sens / at the age of 65 / president of the civil court / attributed to Dumont François' and on a later label 'Father of Mme Jacques / Thiddou / LEROUX / great-great-grand / father of Apeil' on the back of the portrait of a man. Inscription 'Sophie Philbert / wife of Augustin Taillan / dier + 19 May 1832 / aged 54 / A Sens / attributed to François Dumont' and on a later label 'Mother of Mme Gauthier / de Claubry / Great-Great- / grandmother of Apeil' on the back of the female portrait Portrait of Augustin-Louis Taillandier (1774-1842) and Portrait of his wife Sophie Philbert (1778-1832), watercolour and gum arabic on ivory, signed, by F. Dumont 7.48 x 5.03 in. 19.0 x 12.8 cm Provenance: Anonymous sale; Paris, Hôtel Drouot, Kapandji Morhange, 30 May 2007, no. 10 (sold for €20,000) ; Anonymous sale; London, Bonhams, 21 May 2008, n° 76 (probably acquired after-sale); Pierre Jourdan-Barry Collection (1926-2016); Then by descent; Private collection, Belgium Exhibitions: Marguerite Gérard: artiste en 1789 dans l'atelier de Fragonard, Paris, Musée Cognacq-Jay, 2009, p. 144-147, no. 43 and 44. Bibliography: Second account book of François Dumont, Bibliothèque de l'INHA, folio 21-23, inv. Ms.104 (1000 and 6000 livres) François Dumont, a miniaturist from Lorraine, kept two account books, rare sources that are particularly sought after by art historians for the wealth of information they contain on the painters' production and clientele. François Dumont's second account book, kept in the Bibliothèque Doucet of the Institut national d'histoire de l'art, mentions miniature portraits of the citizens Taillandier and Taillandier, commissioned for £1,000 and £6,000 respectively, probably to mark their marriage in 1794. A lawyer in Paris, Taillandier was president of the Sens court from 1815 to 1832. François DUMONT (Lunéville, 1751, - Paris, 1831) 19.0 x 12.8 cm The Lorraine-born miniaturist François Dumont kept two account books, rare sources that are particularly sought after by art historians for the wealth of information they contain on painters' production and clientele. François Dumont's second account book, kept in the Bibliothèque Doucet of the Institut national d'histoire de l'art, mentions miniature portraits of the citizens Taillandier and Taillandier, commissioned for £1,000 and £6,000 respectively, probably to mark their marriage in 1794. A lawyer in Paris, Taillandier was president of the Sens court from 1815 to 1832.