A woman looking up to the left, three-quarter-length

Details

Simon Vouet (Paris 1590-1649)
A woman looking up to the left, three-quarter-length
with inscription 'Simon Vouet' (verso)
black and white chalk on light brown paper, the lower left corner made up
11½ x 10 2/3 in. (294 x 269 mm.)

Provenance

Marquis Charles-Philippe de Chennevières (L. 2073); Paris, 4-7 April 1900, part of lot 518.
Anonymous sale; Paris, 9 May 1971, lot 79.
Jacques Petit-Hory, his mark (twice, not in Lugt).

Literature

Marquis Charles-Philippe de Chennevières, 'Une Collection de Dessins d'artistes français [...]', L'Artiste, XIV, April 1896, p. 252 (as Etude pour une figure de femme drapée, élevant les yeux vers la gauche et les mains étendues dans l'attitude de l'admiration).

Exhibited

Paris, Grand Palais, Simon Vouet, 1990, no. 82.

Lot Essay

While this drawing cannot be related to a known composition, Barbara Brejon de Lavergnée suggests that it is very close in handling to a Study of a woman in the Kunsthalle, Hamburg (Paris, op. cit., no. 81). B. Brejon de Lavergnée notes that 'la nervosité d'execution, la finesse des touches, l'equisse rapide du visage poupin de la figure' suggest a date in the 1630s after Vouet's return from Rome (Paris, op. cit., p. 384).

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