Ange Laurent de La Live de Jully

Ange Laurent de La Live de Jully (1725-1779) was a wealthy art collector and amateur artist. Unlike many other Parisian collectors, who favoured works of Rembrandt, Rubens, and the Renaissance masters, La Live de Jully made a conscious effort to collect contemporary French artists. His enthusiastic support of the visual arts led to his election in 1754 to the office of honorary member of the Acad�mie royale de peinture et de sculpture in Paris.

In Greuze’s portrait, La Live de Jully is shown as a gentleman cultivated in music and the visual arts. He is depicted in the study of his Paris residence, seated on a low, broad chair with conspicuous classical detailing, behind which is a matching writing table. On the right end of the table stands a marble statue of the Erythrean Sibyl by Jean-Jacques Caffi�ri. The furniture is designed in a precociously neoclassical style by Louis-Joseph Le Lorrain with bronze mounts. The ebony-veneered writing table and a matching filing cabinet are now in the Mus�e Cond�, Chantilly.