A double portrait by Serangeli for the Musée Fabre

: 1. Gioacchino Serangeli (1768-1862)
Portrait of the Twins Sons of Pierre Seriziat, 1795
Oil on canvas mounted on panel - 55 x 46 cm
Montpellier, Musée Fabre
Photo: Galerie Christian Le Serbon & Galerie de Frise; See the image in its page

29/2/24 - Acquisition - Montpellier, Musée Fabre - The charming effigy looks familiar, while Gioacchino Serangeli’s Portrait of the Twin Sons of Pierre Seriziat (ill. 1) by Gioacchino Serangeli has just joined a public collection after spending just over two centuries in private hands: recently acquired by the Musée Fabre in Montpellier from dealers Christian Le Serbon and Florent Piednoir, it was last sold by Tajan at Drouot in March 1996 but was published ten years later by Florian Siffer in an article in La Tribune de l’Art that we are pleased to quote. Born on 25 November 1787, Charles-Alphonse and Pierre-Emmannuel Sériziat were the sons of Pierre Sériziat and Émilie Pécoul, whose sister Marguerite-Charlotte had married Jacques Louis David in 1782. The two couples were very close, Pierre and Émilie Sériziat even taking David into their home in Seine-et-Marne when he was released from prison in 1794. After witnessing his brother-in-law’s wedding, the painter remained on excellent terms with him and first portrayed him in 1790 on an oval canvas (ill. 2) now preserved in Canada.

: 2. Jacques Louis David (1748-1825)
Portrait of Pierre Sériziat, 1790
Oil on canvas - 55.3 x 45.7 cm
Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada
Photo: National Gallery of Canada; See the image in its page

The son of a Lyon merchant, Sériziat was supported by David, who in 1791 pushed his candidacy for a position as deputy king’s commissioner at the Court of Cassation, as Antoine Schnapper had noted on the occasion of the major retrospective of 1989-1990, whose rich catalogue is still widely authoritative today. A lawyer by profession, Sériziat owned the beautiful farm of Saint-Ouen, in Favières, which his wife had…

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