Michel-Ange Challe (1718-1778)

A view of the Colosseum, Rome, seen throgh an arch; and The Villa Adriana, Tivoli

Details

Michel-Ange Challe (1718-1778)
Challe, M.-A.
A view of the Colosseum, Rome, seen throgh an arch; and The Villa Adriana, Tivoli
both signed 'MA Challe'
black and white chalk on light brown paper, watermark posthorn
12.7/8 x 18.1/8 in. (308 x 461 mm.) 12.1/8 x 18 in. (306 x 476 mm.) (2)

Exhibited

Paris, Galerie Cailleux, Le Rouge et le Noir, 1991, nos. 47-8.

Lot Essay

These drawings were probably executed while Challe was at the Acadmie de France in Rome between 1742 and 1749. A view of the Colosseum of similar dimensions but from a different angle was sold at Christie's London, 7 July 1976, lot 31. Further Roman views were sold at Christie's London, 30 March 1972, lot 60, 26-7 November 1974, lot 355 and 16 April 1991, lot 226.
The same view as in the first drawing in the present lot is at the Muse Magnin, Dijon, reproduced in the Revue du Louvre, 1979, fig. 2. A similar view, but from a slightly different angle, is in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, French Drawings of the 18th Century, 1974, no. 22.