Jean-Baptiste Leprince (Metz 1734-1781 Saint-Denis)

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The Property of the Trustees of the Knole Second Trust Fund (lots 12, 109-114, 123, 131, 159-161 and 198-200)

Jean-Baptiste Leprince (Metz 1734-1781 Saint-Denis)

Portrait of a girl in Russian dress

Details

Jean-Baptiste Leprince (Metz 1734-1781 Saint-Denis)
Portrait of a girl in Russian dress
with inscriptions 'Le Prince 149' (recto) and 'femme Turque. a la plume et a laquarelle. leprince ecole francais 36' (verso)
black chalk, watercolour, heightened with white, watermark Strasburg lily with V[an] D[er] L[ey], the corner tips cut
12 1/8 x 7 5/8 in. (310 x 194 mm.)

Provenance

Probably acquired by John Frederick Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset, K.G., P.C. (1745-1799), or by Sir Charles Whitworth, K.B., subsequently 1st Earl Whitworth, G.C.B., P.C. (1752-1825), and by descent in the Sackville family, subsequently the Sackville-West family, at Knole Park, Kent. See the provenance and note for lot 131.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium, which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

Leprince's initial training was in the studio of François Boucher, which lead him into a successful artistic career in Paris. However, in 1758, probably owing the travails of an unhappy marriage, he fled to Russia, remaining there until 1764. In addition to a number of court and society commissions, he made a large number of costume and landscape studies in the Russian hinterland which were to form the basis of his highly fashionable output on his return to France. The present drawing may have been brought to Knole either by John, 2nd Duke of Dorset, who was ambassador in Paris in 1782-89, or by Charles, 1st Earl Whitworth, who was ambassador in Saint Petersburg in 1788-1800 and in Paris in 1802-3.

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