A boy tickling a sleeping girl with a straw, an infant and a cat by her feet

Details

Attributed to François Boucher (Paris 1707-1770) and Studio
A boy tickling a sleeping girl with a straw, an infant and a cat by her feet
with inscription 'FBoucher'
black, red, white and green chalk, possibly over a black chalk counterproof, on blue paper
11¾ x 8½ in. (300 x 217 mm.); and
FOLLOWER OF FRANçOIS BOUCHER
A shepherd boy and a girl fording a stream
with inscription and date 'FBoucher 1770'
black and white chalk on blue paper
11¾ x 8½ in. (299 x 215 mm.) (2)

Provenance

(1 and 2) Princesse Mathilde Demidoff.
(1 and 2) Stephen Higgons, Paris.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 26 March 1974, lot 155 (for 1) and lot 154 (for 2).

Literature

A. Ananoff, L'Oeuvre dessiné de Boucher, Paris, 1966, I, no. 261, fig. 48 (for 1) and no. 214, fig. 39 (for 2).

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 This lot is subject to Collection and Storage charges

Lot Essay

Alastair Laing has kindly pointed out that another version of the first drawing in this lot, in reverse, is known. The present drawing may be a counterproof retouched in the studio. Mr Laing has also pointed out that the composition of the second drawing in this lot is repeated in a drawing in a private collection in Paris (M. Roland Michel, Les dessins français au XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1987, p. 187, fig. 221), which depends on a drawing by Boucher engraved in 1756 by William Ryland (J.-R. 1545).

More from Old Master Pictures and Drawings

View All