Alexandre Ubelesqui (1649 – 1718) - Allegory of the Peace of Nijmegen

This luminous oil sketch by Alexandre Ubelesqui is a rare and historically significant rediscovery within French painting under Louis XIV. Identified by François Marandet as the preparatory sketch for the artist’s reception piece at the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, it is very likely the “dessein” presented to the members of the Académie on 11 January 1681, when the composition was approved and initialled.

Preparatory modelli for Académie royale reception pieces are exceptionally rare. This example is all the more compelling for being supported by precise archival documentation, directly connected to the academic process itself. The composition celebrates the Peace of Nijmegen through an ambitious allegorical language, bringing together Apollo, Minerva, Victory, Abundance and the personifications of the Arts in a theatrical vision of peace, prosperity and artistic renewal.

Recently cleaned, the painting has recovered a remarkable freshness and luminosity. Both a beautiful work in its own right and an essential document for the genesis of an Académie royale reception piece, this sketch is a work of true institutional significance.

Alexandre Ubelesqui
Paris, 1649 – 1718

Allegory of the Peace of Nijmegen
Preparatory sketch for the artist’s reception piece at the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, 1682

Oil on canvas
58 × 72 cm
22 7/8 × 28 3/8 in

Provenance
Very probably the sketch presented by the artist to the members of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture on 11 January 1681, when his “dessein” was approved and initialled.
Private collection, Paris.

Literature / Expertise
François Marandet, Alexandre Ubelesqui (Paris, 1649 – id., 1718), Allégorie de la Paix de Nimègue, unpublished report, 28 November 2025.

Related to:
François Marandet, “Alexandre Ubelesqui (1649–1718): de l’amalgame à la reconstitution d’un style”, Les Cahiers d’Histoire de l’Art, 2012, pp. 41–50.

Condition
Recently cleaned, the painting has recovered remarkable freshness of colour, compositional clarity and luminosity.