A seated female nude leaning forward and looking down to the right

Details

François Boucher (Paris 1703-1770)
A seated female nude leaning forward and looking down to the right
with inscription 'Boucher'
red and white chalk on light brown paper
13½ x 10 5/8 in. (341 x 271 mm.)

Engraved

In the same direction by Jean-Baptiste Michel, with the title Venus entrant au Bain (Jean-Richard 1424).

Special notice

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Lot Essay

Alastair Laing has kindly confirmed the attribution to Boucher on examining the drawing.
Although Michel's engraving shows the figure in a carefully delineated setting, this seems not to have been designed by Boucher but added by the engraver. This relationship between drawing and print is also seen in the pendant to the present sheet, a red chalk female nude formerly in the J.P. Heseltine Collection, London (A. Ananoff, L'oeuvre dessiné de François Boucher, Paris, 1966, no. 464, pl. 88), which is preparatory to Michel's engraving entitled Venus sortant du Bain (Jean-Richard 1425).

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