Madame La Comtesse de Permon Comnène French Landscape with Trees & Figure

An original early 19th-century charcoal drawing, Madame La Comtesse de Permon Comnène, French Landscape with Trees & Figure.

This beautiful drawing has a very intriguing identity, that takes us to the very heart of Napoleonic France. Drawn in charcoal by 'Madame La Comtesse de Permon Comnènes', this appears to be reference to the recently married Laure Junot, Duchess of Abrantès (1784–1838), whose father was Charles Martin de Permond and whose mother was Panoria Stefanopoli de Comnène.

Laure Junot stands as one of the most influential figures in shaping the Napoleonic era: she was no statesman, military or civil leader, but she was a hugely well connected member of the court of Napoleon, and an inveterate gossip. An old family friend of the Bonaparte’s from Corsica, she was married to one of Napoleon’s oldest friends, Andoche Junot, thus moving in the highest circles in Paris, known by and knowing everyone of note.

Laure's mother, known as 'Panoria', was descended from the Comnène family, the last Greek dynasty from the Empire of Trebizond. Growing up in Corsica, they were old family friends of the Bonaparte family, and Panoria herself was proposed to by the young Napoleon. But Panoria was to marry Charles Martin de Permond and eventually settle in Paris. The families remained close, and after Charles's death in 1795, Laure lived with her mother, who had established a distinguished Parisian salon that was frequented by Napoleon.

In 1800 Laure married Napoleon's closest friend, Andoche Junot, Duc d'Abrantès. In Paris, she became known for her beauty, her caustic wit, and her extravagance. Most famously, she went on to write a memoir of 'Napoleon, His Court and Family', full of intimate, slanderous detail, published in Paris in 1831–35. Later, during the Restoration, she published her own Memoirs, with the encouragement and supervision of her lover, the author Honore de Balzac.

Laure Junot spent a lot of time around artistic society in Paris. In her memoirs she describes that her brother 'painted like Vernet [Claude-Joseph Vernet (1714–1789)], whose pupil he was' and that she herself had a drawing master 'M. Viglians'. This appears to be Jean Viglianis, painter and etcher, active in Paris in the late 18th and early 19th century. Viglianis produced engravings after the French painter and designer Jean-Baptiste Pillement (1728–1808), known for his delicate landscapes and influence in spreading the Rococo style.

This charcoal drawing is likely to be a result of those drawing lessons. As a sketch, it displays sophisticated use of innovative techniques in the charcoal medium. The drawing achieves depth through the use of a background wash—likely a mix of charcoal powder and liquid—overlaid with darker charcoal detail, with areas of scratching out to reveal the white paper below. The resulting image is imbued with Romantic atmosphere and feeling: a lone female figure carrying a heavy load along the rural lane, with grand French architecture glimpsed at the left.

On cream wove paper, tipped on to backing paper. With thin laid paper cover sheet affixed at the left edge.

Provenance: from an album belonging to Juliana Glegg (the inscription pasted below the drawing in fact has 'Miss Glegg' written on its verso). The Glegg family were substantial landowners on the Wirral. By the 18th century branches of the family were established at Irby, Caldy Grange and Gayton. Juliana's father was John Glegg of Irby (1732–1804) and her uncle was John Baskervyle Glegg (1741–1821) of Withington Hall. The association with France is unclear, but the family were well connected, and the album also included a drawing by a 'Mademoiselle Sommé d'anvers', as well as pictures by Thomas Tudor of Monmouth, Charles Norris and Rev John Eagles of Bristol.