Lot Essay
Ce croquis fut réalisé pour le projet de l’un des tableaux les plus célèbres de Gérard, le portrait de la fameuse Juliette Récamier, peint entre 1802 et 1805, aujourd’hui conservé au Musée Carnavalet à Paris (fig. 1; voir Salmon, op. cit., no. 115, ill.). Cette étude est très certainement antérieure à une esquisse plus sommaire du Musée des Beaux-Arts de Quimper (ibid., p. 68, 70), ainsi qu’à un second dessin en couleur plus achevé et mis au carreau, directement préparatoire au tableau, également à Carnavalet (ibid., no. 14, ill.). Cette même peinture fut précédée d'au moins trois autres études de compositions différentes illustrant le modèle au bain (ibid., no. 13, p. 66, fig. 11, et p. 68).
This sketch was made in preparation of one of Gérard’s most successful portraits, that of the celebrated beauty Juliette Récamier, painted 1802-1805 and now at the Musée Carnavalet, Paris (fig. 1; see Salmon, op. cit., no. 115, ill.). The present drawing must have preceded a more cursory pen sketch at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Quimper (ibid., p. 68, 70), as well as a coloured, much more finished squared drawing, at the Musée Carnavalet (ibid., no. 14, ill.), which corresponds exactly with the final painting. It was itself preceded by at least three explorations of another composition for the portrait, in which the sitter is seen bathing (ibid., no. 13, p. 66, fig. 11, and p. 68).
Fig. 1. François Gérard, Juliette Récamier, Musée Carnavalet, Paris.
This sketch was made in preparation of one of Gérard’s most successful portraits, that of the celebrated beauty Juliette Récamier, painted 1802-1805 and now at the Musée Carnavalet, Paris (fig. 1; see Salmon, op. cit., no. 115, ill.). The present drawing must have preceded a more cursory pen sketch at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Quimper (ibid., p. 68, 70), as well as a coloured, much more finished squared drawing, at the Musée Carnavalet (ibid., no. 14, ill.), which corresponds exactly with the final painting. It was itself preceded by at least three explorations of another composition for the portrait, in which the sitter is seen bathing (ibid., no. 13, p. 66, fig. 11, and p. 68).
Fig. 1. François Gérard, Juliette Récamier, Musée Carnavalet, Paris.