Staged on March 21 and 23, timed to coincide with the Salon du Dessin drawings fair also in Paris, it generated a great deal of domestic and international interest - not least from French institutions who were using their right of pre-emption to make purchases.
There were no fewer than 14 pre-emptions by French museums. These included the Louvre; the Château de Versailles; the Musée d’Orsay; the Musée d’Orleans and the Musée Ingres Bourdelle in Montauban which secured this oil on canvas by Jean- Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780-1867), who was born in the southern French town, for €155,000 (£137,170).
Condottiere, a portrait of a bearded man in armour, is a study for the painting of L’Entrée à Paris du Dauphin, futur Charles V, and shows a figure on the right of the composition holding a pike.
The Talabardon & Gautier work, which is signed J Ingres and dated 1821, is on the original canvas which was enlarged by the artist to measure 21 x 17in (53.5 x 43cm).