François Boucher (Paris 1703-1770)
François Boucher (Paris 1703-1770)

A female nude reclining on a chaise-longue

Details
François Boucher (Paris 1703-1770)
A female nude reclining on a chaise-longue
black lead, red and white chalk on light brown paper
8¾ x 14¼ in. (222 x 362 mm.); together with Demarteau's manière crayon print after the same compositon
Provenance
Possibly Blondel d'Azincourt; Paris, 10 January 1783, lot 132.
J.P. Heseltine (L. 1507), sold with the greater part of his collection in October 1912, for $150,000, to Colnaghi.
with P. & D. Colnaghi, London.
Apparently H. de W. Collection, London.
Literature
[J.P. Heseltine], Drawings by Boucher, Fragonard and Watteau, London, 1900, no. 8.
A. Michel, François Boucher, Paris, 1906, no. 2318.
A. Ananoff, L'oeuvre dessiné de François Boucher, Paris, 1966, no. 501, fig. 93.
A. Ananoff and D. Wildenstein, François Boucher, Geneva, 1976, no. 411/2, fig. 1159.
A. Laing, J.P. Marandel and P. Rosenberg, François Boucher, exhib. cat., New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and elsewhere, 1986-1987, p. 261, Drawing no. 3.
A. Laing, The Drawings of François Boucher, New York, 2003, p. 235, under no. 29, note 7.
Exhibited
London, National Loan Exhibition, 1909-10, no. 86.
Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, Dessins de l'Ecole française du XVIIIe siècle, provenant de la collection H[eseltine], catalogue by L. Guiraud, 1913, no. 11.

Lot Essay

Drawn in preparation for Boucher's painting of The Blonde Odalisque now in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich, dated 1752 (A. Laing et al., op. cit., 1986-1987, no. 61). Alastair Laing has confirmed the attribution to Boucher on studying the drawing in the original, and suggests that it may be Boucher's life drawing for the painting. This suggestion is supported by the simplicity of the setting, since in place of the elaborate draperies and patterned upholstery of the picture Boucher has suggested firm cushions arranged to allow the studio model to pose with some degree of comfort. The distinction is particularly apparent on comparison with Boucher's study for The Dark Odalisque of 1743, now in the Louvre (A. Laing et al., op. cit., 1986-1987, no. 48), in which the posed model is clearly displayed with aesthetic values rather than physical realities foremost (now in the Horvitz Collection; A. Laing, op. cit., 2003, no. 29).
The identification of the model for The Blond Odalisque has long been the source of much comment, unsurprising given the heady combination of realism and eroticism in the present drawing. Since the beginning of the 20th Century the Munich painting and The Dark Odalisque have been associated with the notorious sisters Louise and Victoire O'Murphy, daughters of Irish adventurers living in Paris, the former afterwards mistress to King Louis XV, whose reputation comes down to us with some colour through Casanova's memoirs and those of others who frequented court circles in the period. The model of the present drawing may well have gone on to become mistress to the King, but as Alastair Laing has shown through careful analysis of the sources she would almost certainly only have held that position briefly before the much enduring encumbancy of Louise O'Murphy (A. Laing et al., op. cit., 1986-1987, pp. 258-263).

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