It shouldn’t need explaining, but @punk-raphaelite’s reblog of @lamignonette’s collection of lapdog-shaped meringues and pastries put me in a Pompon mood.
After rereading that post and reliving that bonkers 2023 Pompon moment, I thought to check in on the current state of the Pomponiverse. Has even one scintilla of evidence or scholarly discussion turnd up to support the antique dealers’ story that Jacques Barthélémy De Lamarre was painting Marie-Antoinette’s favorite dog?
Désolé, mais non, it has not. But another Pompon has.
Osenat has two Delamarres in their upcoming sale, La Royauté à Versailles: This “Portrait présumé de ‘Pompon’, chien bien-aimé de Marie-Antoinette” gets a whole text about its race, and whether it’s a poodle, ending with the wild 50x sale price from 2023.
Meanwhile, this “Chat angora chassant un serin,” gets nothing, except the canary, which it has clearly finished hunting. Same size, same desk, same setting, same repetition, was this angry, murderous little cat not one of Marie-Antoinette’s favorites, too?
What if these formulaic little paintings were delivered to courtiers as reminders of their shaved-ass, lapdog subservience, and as threats against informers? That incomplete note card could be understood to read, “Anything for you, queen” or “About to have you executed :)” It’s up to you.
[update:] the dog painting sold for a very demure EUR9274, and the cat for EUR3864. In the matter of Pompon painting prices, at least, the world may be returning to normal.
18 May 2025, Lot 50: De Lamarre, Portrait de présumé Pompon, 6000-8000EUR [osenat]
18 May 2025, Lot 51: De Lamarre, Chat angora chassant un serin, 3000-5000EUR
Previously: Jacques Barthélémy Delamarre Facsimile Object [D1] ‘Pompon’ (2023)
Previously, somewhat related, in the sense that Oudry, at least, actually did paint for the court: The Pineapple of Versailles