In search of Lebel: two attractive eighteenth-century fetes galantes in the National Gallery of Ireland are signed simply 'J. Lebel', an otherwise unidentified French painter. Martin Eidelberg sifts through the many artists with that surname and proposes a solution to the puzzle

Apollo, Sept, 2004 by Martin Eidelberg

Clearly, too many conflicting first names have been applied to the work of one artist. Indeed, who were all these painters with the same, not uncommon, family name of Lebel?

A Jean Lebel worked as a portraitist at the end of the seventeenth century, but almost nothing is known about him or his oeuvre. (12) His one certified work suggests he was a painter of adequate skill hut with no particular charm.

Jean Etienne Lebel was active in the second half of the eighteenth century, but this man is equally obscure. Although his birth date is not recorded, it was probably around 1745, since he was accepted as a master in the Paris Guild of St Luke on 30 October 1767. (13) Presumably he is the author of a painting in the parish church of Villefranche-sur-Cher (Loire et Cher) that reportedly bears the signature and date 'J. le Bel 1764'. However, this picture is a straightforward copy of Eustache Le Sueuer's Christ in the house of Mary, and Martha and so we have no sense of the painter's artistic personality.

There are also several somewhat dissimilar works from the late eighteenth century signed 'E. Lebel' which have been assigned to Jean Etienne. (14) These include a painting of revellers at a rustic tavern in the tradition of David Teniers the Younger, a portrait miniature on silk dated 1761, and a genre scene of playful young lovers in a windy landscape. Whether they represent the work of Jean Etienne or yet another member of the Lebels remains to be determined.

Antoine is perhaps the best known of the Lebels. Born in Arc-en-Barrois in 1705, he studied with the history painter Francois Lemoyne but later specialised in landscapes. He was agree at the Academie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture on 29 January 1746 (at the advanced age of 41 years) and was received as a master on 27 August that same year. The two paintings which he submitted, a Paysage and a Marine, are now in the Musee des Beaux-Arts, Caen. (15) These figures bear insufficient resemblance to those in the paintings in Dublin and Stockholm for them to be attributed to the same hand. He died in 1793 at the venerable age of 88 years. (16)

Yet another eighteenth-century painter to be considered is Clement Louis Marie Anne Lebel. Although the artist's birth date is unknown, it must have been around mid century, since his documented works commence one quarter century later. Today he is best remembered as the painter of ostrich eggs that were presented by Louis XVI to favoured members of court. (17) One such egg, set on an elaborate gilt bronze mount by Pierre Joseph Desire Gouthiere, is in the Detroit Institute of Arts; another, set on a base turned by Louis xv's daughter, Madame Adelaide, is in the Petit Trianon at Versailles. There are also paintings on porcelain but, regardless of the support, his genre scenes bear the unmistakable mark of the last third of the century. (18) In fact, Clement Louis Marie Anne Lebel lived until 1806.

This brings us back, finally, to Jean-Baptiste Lebel, who was, we believe, the author of the paintings and drawings illustrated here. Jean-Baptiste's existence is proven by a number of documents. An inventory of a painter living on the rue de Monceau, designated 'le sieur Le Bel', was prepared on 19 January 1749. (19) Although the inventory has not survived, I believe it refers to the painter we seek, since a second document, dated 13 July 1749, describes Anne Louise Simpol, also living on the rue de Mouceau, as the widow of the deceased painter Jean-Baptiste Lebel. (20) Likewise, a receipt dated 5 March 1751 refers to the late artist on the rue de Monceau as 'Jean-Baptiste Lebel maitre peintre.' (21) The cumulative evidence of these three documents establishes that the artist's first name was indeed Jean-Baptiste, that he lived on the rue de Monceau, that he was active in the first half of the eighteenth century, and that he must have died at the very beginning of January 1749 or perhaps on the last days of the preceding December. This all accords with the painter we have been seeking: a 'Lebell', whose pictures appeared in Andrew Hay's 1738 sale, and a 'J. Lebel', who signed Tessin's drawings and paintings by 1739-40.