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Lot Essay
This drawing probably represents the gardens of Arcueil, where Oudry executed numerous views. Most of these are recorded in the Oudry exhibition at the Grand Palais, Paris, in 1982, nos. 129-38.
Oudry visited the abandoned garden of Arceuil many times between 1744 and 1747. Arceuil was between Orlans and Paris and received its name from the Roman aqueduct, the Arcus Juliani, that passed through the property. The castle and garden were commissioned by Anne-Marie-Joseph de Lorraine, Prince de Guise. On his death in 1747 the land was inherited by his granddaughter who was married to the Prince de Beauveau. The house was sold in 1752, and the garden finally dismembered in the 19th Century.
Gougenot, in his life of Oudry read at the Acadmie Royale de peinture et de sculpture in 1761, said that 'Avant la destruction totale des jardins d'Arcueil, [Oudry] ne manquoit pas d'y aller dessiner ds qu'il pouvoit trouver un moment de loisir. Ces jardins, qui excitoient les regrets de ceux qui les avoient vus dans leur premier clat, lorsqu'ils furents entirement abandonns prirent de nouveaux charmes aux yeux de la peinture. Partout on ne rencontroit que dessinateurs; chacun s'empressoit de consulter M. Oudry, et dans ces rcrations pittoresques, il primoit comme un professeur au milieu de son cole. C'est dans ces divers dessins de paysage qu'il a dvelopp clairement les grands principes qu'il tenoit de M. de Largillierre sur l'intelligence du clair-obscur, et l'on y dcouvre les effets les plus vrais et le plus hardis', quoted in H.N. Opperman, J.-B. Oudry, exhib. cat., Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 1982, p. 232. Oudry's views of Arceuil, of which there are at least fifty, show that the garden decoration was mainly composed of trellis-work, similar to that in the present drawing. Oudry also worked in the Chteau d'Ivry, which belonged to Oudry's patron, the Marquis de Beringhen, in Vor, owned by Louis Fagon, and at Versailles.
The original of the Diane Chasseresse, first recorded at Fontainebleau in 1586, was transferred to Versailles' Grande Galerie by King Louis XIV. It was one of the most popular antique sculptures from the King's collection. Copies of it stand at Marly, Fontainebleau and many other gardens. The present sheet is one of the few landscape drawings in which Oudry included figures.
Oudry visited the abandoned garden of Arceuil many times between 1744 and 1747. Arceuil was between Orlans and Paris and received its name from the Roman aqueduct, the Arcus Juliani, that passed through the property. The castle and garden were commissioned by Anne-Marie-Joseph de Lorraine, Prince de Guise. On his death in 1747 the land was inherited by his granddaughter who was married to the Prince de Beauveau. The house was sold in 1752, and the garden finally dismembered in the 19th Century.
Gougenot, in his life of Oudry read at the Acadmie Royale de peinture et de sculpture in 1761, said that 'Avant la destruction totale des jardins d'Arcueil, [Oudry] ne manquoit pas d'y aller dessiner ds qu'il pouvoit trouver un moment de loisir. Ces jardins, qui excitoient les regrets de ceux qui les avoient vus dans leur premier clat, lorsqu'ils furents entirement abandonns prirent de nouveaux charmes aux yeux de la peinture. Partout on ne rencontroit que dessinateurs; chacun s'empressoit de consulter M. Oudry, et dans ces rcrations pittoresques, il primoit comme un professeur au milieu de son cole. C'est dans ces divers dessins de paysage qu'il a dvelopp clairement les grands principes qu'il tenoit de M. de Largillierre sur l'intelligence du clair-obscur, et l'on y dcouvre les effets les plus vrais et le plus hardis', quoted in H.N. Opperman, J.-B. Oudry, exhib. cat., Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 1982, p. 232. Oudry's views of Arceuil, of which there are at least fifty, show that the garden decoration was mainly composed of trellis-work, similar to that in the present drawing. Oudry also worked in the Chteau d'Ivry, which belonged to Oudry's patron, the Marquis de Beringhen, in Vor, owned by Louis Fagon, and at Versailles.
The original of the Diane Chasseresse, first recorded at Fontainebleau in 1586, was transferred to Versailles' Grande Galerie by King Louis XIV. It was one of the most popular antique sculptures from the King's collection. Copies of it stand at Marly, Fontainebleau and many other gardens. The present sheet is one of the few landscape drawings in which Oudry included figures.