A courtier leaning forward and a faint study of another figure

Comparable to drawings sold at Christies New York, 28 January 1999, lot 152 and 9 January 1991, lot 46. These drawings come from a group of large figure studies executed in London in 1732 or 1733, a fact supported by the English watermark on the present sheet. A large number of these sheets were purchased by Comte Andreossy, French Ambassador in London from 1802, and passed at the sale of his collection to the Goncourt brothers, E. Launay, Les frêres Goncourt, collectionneurs de dessins, Paris, 1991, nos. 115-119. Goncourt describes these drawings as 'grandes études d'hommes & femmes, dans le goût de certaines études habillées de Boucher, mais d'un dessin plus serré, plus correct, plus près de la nature...', E. Launay, op. cit., p. 313.