Dessins Anciens et du XIXe Siècle

One of the highlights of this sale is an unpublished drawing by Nicolas Poussin. The former owner, Philippe de Chennevières, identified it as a preliminary study for The death of Germanicus, a painting currently housed in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Commissioned in 1626 by Cardinal Francesco Barberini – one of the most important patrons of Baroque Rome – the painting was completed by Poussin in 1627. Today, the sheet is identified as a work from the years 1636–40, and shows the artist experimenting with the composition of this painting some years later. Among its key works, the sale also features a delicate Portrait de jeune fille by Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, and a sketch by Gabriel de Saint-Aubin depicting a fight between two street-hawkers on the quai de la Mégisserie near the Pont-Neuf in Paris. These remarkable drawings will make this sale one of the stand-out moments of the Semaine du dessin in Paris.