Pierre Nicolas HUILLIOT 1674-1751 attributed to "Still life with flowers and guinea pigs on an entablature" oil on canvas, re-lining, berain style frame

Etienne JEAURAT1699-1789 attributed to "Les Lunettes" oil on canvas, gilded wood frame, vintage 60x52.
this painting illustrates one of the famous greedy tales written by Jean de la Fontaine, and published between 1665 and 1674.
Less known for his tales than for his Fables, Jean de la Fontaine is nonetheless a talented storyteller.
He achieves the feat of speaking bluntly about sexuality without seeming to.
By not naming anything explicitly, it provokes the complicity of the reader, who, putting aside his innocence, easily understands what the author is trying to say to him.
The glasses, therefore, tell us the story of a young beardless man who enters a convent, disguised as a nun. After nine months had passed, one of the sisters had to be delivered from an unexplained pregnancy, and the culprit was therefore sought.

The superior mother, glasses on her nose In order not to judge the case lightly, have these young ladies undress, in order to see if among them, an impostor is hiding. In order to preserve innocent spirits, and to respect their modesty, young women are ordered to flatten a square of cloth knitted in loincloth on their sex. After having done everything to hide her illegitimate protuberance, Sister Jouvenceau lets herself be seduced by so many charming round shapes by her side.

It is then that we can read the following edifying verses, illustrated by our table:
Firm nipples and similar springs
Had soon played the machine.
She escaped, broke the thread suddenly,
Like a courier breaking his halter,
And jumped straight to the prioress's nose,
Flying glasses just now
Up to the floor.
It took very little
Don't see the glasses.
The youngster ends up tied to a tree, in order to be beaten by the horde of his angry false fellows. Lucky and clever, he significantly changed the account of his adventures when a miller came to pass; and now he subtly escaped his fatal plan, leaving the poor miller to wipe out the woes of his bad behavior.

We are here far from the moral of the Fables of our friend Jean de la Fontaine. Strongly displeasing to Puritan and well-thinking society of the time, these tales remained in the shadows, but were the delight of painters and engravers of the 17th and 18th centuries such as Etienne Jeaurat.

François Louis LONSING 1739-1799 attributed to "Portraits of Jean Baptiste and Emilie de Mareilhac" oils on canvas with an oval view in a Louis XVI frame in molded and gilded wood of the period (80x70 cm)

French School circa 1780 attributed to Honoré Jean GUIBERT 1720-1791 "Portrait of young woman with straw hat" oil on canvas

Honoré Jean GUIBERT 1720-1791 "Portrait of a young woman with a pink dress" oil on canvas signed and dated 1770 lower left, re-linning.

BATONI Pompeo (1708-1787) in the style of, Italian School of the XVIII, Allegory of painting, oil on canvas.

Carle Van Loo 1705-1765 follower "Allegory of Sculpture" oil on canvas

French school of the XVIII, follower of Alexandre François DESPORTES 1661-1743 "Two dogs and partridges, dog and ducks" pair of oils on canvas fretted wooden frame and gilded stucco.

XVIIth century Italian school "Still life with flowers and fish and black cat" oil on canvas in a gilded lacquered wooden frame dim: 123 x 98cm

XVIIIth European School "Animated Ruins" Oil on canvas, frame 131x110

Italian School, early 18th century "Moses and the Bronze Serpent" gilded wooden frame, dim period: 150x111cm
Episode told in the Book of Numbers (21, 4-9). At that time, here the people began once again to murmur against God, against Moses: we are hungry, we are thirsty, we are tired of what God gives every day, we should not have left the 'Egypt… The daily routine, what. And there God can no longer bear. People groan all the time and never take into account what their Lord is doing for them. So God sends "burning snakes" that bite many of them. Classic blow then: the people panic, repent, will find Moses so that he does something and this one intercedes. God gives Moses an antidote: "Make yourself a burning serpent and put it on a pole; whoever is bitten and looks at it will stay alive" (Numbers 21, 8).

This is God's way: "The serpent bites you? Look at the serpent". It's not about avoiding what kills or scares us; on the contrary, we will look at it, consider it, and it will be beneficial. The place that kills me is also the place that saves me.

XVIII French School "portrait of young king" in a very beautiful Italian carved wooden frame, openwork and gilded dim: 95x82cm