Portrait Of A Man Reading, Dominique Doncre 1802

Portrait of a young man reading. He is seated in front of a secretary, one arm resting on the flap.
Oil on canvas signed lower right and dated 1802.
Very good condition, some small restorations, old relining.
Several of his works at the Arras Museum of Fine Arts.

Born in Zegerscappel on March 28, 1743, Dominique Doncre is a good example of an artist attached to his province. He settled in Arras in 1770 where he spent most of his career until his death in 1820. He married Marie-Agnès-Rose Dineur there on November 6, 1784.

Dominique Doncre (1743-1820) dominated artistic life in Arrage at the end of the 18th century.
In 1794, Doncre also presided over the creation of the Arras museum, of which he was the first curator, participating in the selection of works.
The district Directory had charged him, on March 4, 1793, with valuing the works of art coming from the property seized from emigrants; on June 20, he had to make a choice among the paintings and various works which were at the Saint-Vaast abbey.

The Pas-de-Calais departmental archives have preserved the inventories drawn up by Doncre. The latter testify to his strong taste for Flemish and Dutch art, a direct echo of his initial training, probably in Antwerp. His virtuosity in the art of trompe l'oeil and grisaille has sometimes led to the writing that the artist "had worked in Antwerp with Martin Geeraerts (1707-1791). Certainly, the latter gave free lessons to the Academy of Antwerp from 1741, but no document confirms the hypothesis that Doncre was his student.
"After first trying to form a clientele in Saint-Omer, the artist did not take long to reach the city of Arras, where a drawing school had just opened at the initiative of the States of Artois The capital of the province seems to have immediately given him a welcome that met his aspirations: in 1772, Doncre took the oath of bourgeoisie, before being admitted to the brotherhood of Saint-Luc. Thanks to his introduction into the circles wealthy people of the city, he then produced important grisailles and wall decorations for various private mansions, including that of the governor of Artois, the Duke of Lévis. Until 1789, he found his sponsors mainly "in the local nobility of dress and more particularly in the environment of the Council of Artois, among the recent nobility descended from local merchants and businessmen. Did the ancient nobility [...] call more on artists from Paris or elsewhere?" From 1780 to 1785, the young Boilly went to Arras, called by Mgr de Conzié, in order to create several portraits. "Did he take advantage of Doncre's relatively long absences at this time to build up a local clientele? However, this did not hold him back when he wanted to leave and settle in Paris. Note, however, that one of Doncre's best trompe-l'oeil dates back to 1785, which, according to tradition, gave lessons to Boilly.

"Needed to adapt to political circumstances, Doncre was able to continue his career as a local portraitist under the Revolution, the Empire and the Restoration. However, if the portrait constituted the major part of his work, "religious painting, decorative compositions, genre scenes then form more than the remaining third of his work. Without direct descendants, Doncre's works were dispersed shortly after his death and the artist seems to have been quickly forgotten. In 1853, the Arras academy put competition a biography of Dominique Doncre with appreciation of the main works he produced". In 1868, Constant Le Gentil, an artesian magistrate, published a biographical work: Dominique Doncre (1743-1820); this last book was enriched in 1902 by an article by scholar Victor Advielle.