LACMA buys painting in Paris

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art snagged the top item in a Paris auction, paying $2.7 million for a portrait by Jacques-Louis David on Thursday at Christie’s. “Portrait of Jean-Pierre Delahaye” -- a dramatic painting of a white-haired, white-shirted gentleman on a dark background -- was the star attraction in a $9-million sale of 155 Old Master and 19th century paintings.

“It’s a very big deal for us,” said LACMA Director Michael Govan. “The painting was cited by our curator Patrice Marandel, who has been a nervous wreck. Very generously, the Ahmanson Foundation made a grant of just under $3 million to try to make this happen.” The new acquisition will go on view at the museum as soon as possible, he said.

The portrait is LACMA’s first painting by David, a leading French artist who was an ardent supporter of the revolution and Napoleon’s official painter. Measuring 24 by 19 1/4 inches and executed in oil on wood panel, it will join works by other French artists, including Georges de La Tour, Claude Lorrain and Jean-Simeon Chardin.

The David portrays a solicitor of the Courts of Paris who was a friend of the artist. At auction for the first time, the portrait had been in the Delahaye family since it was painted in 1815. David made the likeness the year before he went into exile, fleeing to Belgium after Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo. He entrusted Delahaye with his business affairs and may have given him the portrait in exchange for services.

Although David is best known for grand paintings that glorify Napoleon’s exploits and reinterpret classical themes, such as “The Oath of the Horatii” and “Brutus and His Dead Sons” at the Louvre, he painted many distinguished portraits. LACMA’s picture, one of a few portraits that remained in private hands, was not in the J. Paul Getty Museum’s David exhibition last year because, according to the catalog, its location was unknown. Soon it will be at LACMA.