Signed and dated, Casimir de Cypierre, 1829, this landscape inspired by Lake Lucerne in Switzerland measures 30.5 X 41 inches including its original and re-gilded frame.

Casimir Florimond Perrin de Cypierre, Marquis de Cypierre, (1783-1844) is first remembered as one of the greatest collectors of 18th century paintings. The 1845 Christie’s catalogue of his estate sale laments his passing as “a great loss for the French School, of which he saved so many precious works.” It is also interesting to note that Cypierre exposed at several Paris Salons, arguably the most important art event of the Western world between 1748 and 1890.

His collection, including his own works, was dispersed at his estate sale and the most important paintings can be found in national museums worldwide. The portrait of his Grandmother by Nattier, Portrait of a Lady, called the Marquise Perrin de Cypierre, passed through the hands of J. P. Morgan before landing in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gallery 539.

Perhaps Cypierre’s own work below, Bathing on the Lakeshore, retains something of the man who spent his entire life in love with and in research of French painting, a trace of a life touched by the greats.

Cypierre was one of the rare French artists of his day to depict Switzerland through picturesque and sublime landscapes (often grandiose alpine scenes near Bern). In this case we see an example of the era’s Romantic neoclassicism, or a lake scene Cypierre turned into a nostalgic dream. It is unlikely that Roman ladies of leisure were bathing in Switzerland in 1829. His fantasy provides and ambiance of light and hope, albeit distant, and asks whether you wouldn’t rather be there.

The back of the canvas is stamped by the mark of the Ottoz firm, a family of color merchants most known for supplying the Barbizon and Impressionist painters.

Cypierre not only had a privileged experience of art, but of history as well. One of his ancestors was Governor to King Charles IX, and his grandfather and father were intendants to Kings Louis XV-XVI in Orléans. Quai Cypierre, a main thoroughfare there, is named after them. His family castle in southern Burgundy dates from the 12th century and his descendants operate a christmas tree farm there today.

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