The Tansey Miniatures Foundation

Die Miniatur Über den Künstler

The Tansey Miniatures Foundation

DE
The Miniature About the Artist

Victoire de la Grange

Nicolas Allais, called Hallé

This portrait of an unspecified Victoire de la Grange has to be attributed to the miniaturist Nicolas Hallé. Although his works are very rarely signed, they show an individual painting style which is easily recognised: the facial features are painted very precisely and sharply, the face is often directly turned to the viewer, and the clothes appear almost metallic because of the conspicuously placed highlights with their rich contrasts. Further hallmarks of his style are a mouth that appears pinched because of the narrow brown dividing line of the lips, together with striking red accents in the corners of the eyes.

Hallé’s painting manner with its very delicate brush guidance and the elaborate portrayal of even the most subtle details differs decisively from that of Hall who preferred a broad paint application and disregarded details. The two miniaturists knew each other and were aware of the strong similarity of their names. At one point, after an embarrassing mix-up,Hall complained about this. One year after the outbreak of the French Revolution, Hallé’s wife had allegedly thrown apples from her opera box on patriotically minded fellow citizens, but the blame was cast on Hall’s wife.1

Quite a number of Nicolas Hallé’s works are known, but only very few are signed.2 The Duc de Penthiève (1725–1793) seemed to have been very satisfied with Hallé’s works, for the artist painted several miniatures of this illegitimate grandson of Louis XIV.3

B. P.

1 Cf. the letter to the Orateur du peuble of 22 December 1790, cited in Lemoine-Bouchard 2008b, p. 280.
2 One of the signed key works was offered at Christie’s London, on 6 July 2005, lot 121.
3 One of these is located in the Musée Condé, Chantilly. For further works by the artist, see Garnier-Pelle, Lemoine-Bouchard and Pappe 2007, p. 108, no. 91.