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Lot Essay
A study for the figure at the bedside of Darius' wife in The Death of Darius' Wife at the Louvre, Paris (N. Sandoz, Louis (Jean, François) Lagrenée, Paris, 1983, no. 370, pl. XV)
On 17 September 1783 Lagrenée wrote from Rome to the Directeur des Bâtiments d'Angivilier suggesting that the Crown would commission from him a picture of The Death of Darius's Wife. The proposition was accepted by d'Angivilier on 17 February the following year and already by early August the picture was sent to Paris. Lagrenée pre-dated the picture to 1785, planning to show it at the Salon of that year. Critics deplored that the subject was not more nationalistic, but noted nonetheless that the picture was 'bien dessiné' (in the Mercure de France). It was sent to the Gobelins to be woven as a tapestry, but the project was dropped during the Revolution probably due to the non-revolutionary subject.
On 17 September 1783 Lagrenée wrote from Rome to the Directeur des Bâtiments d'Angivilier suggesting that the Crown would commission from him a picture of The Death of Darius's Wife. The proposition was accepted by d'Angivilier on 17 February the following year and already by early August the picture was sent to Paris. Lagrenée pre-dated the picture to 1785, planning to show it at the Salon of that year. Critics deplored that the subject was not more nationalistic, but noted nonetheless that the picture was 'bien dessiné' (in the Mercure de France). It was sent to the Gobelins to be woven as a tapestry, but the project was dropped during the Revolution probably due to the non-revolutionary subject.