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Lot Essay
One of a group of four drawings by Boucher, formerly with the Este Gallery, all laid down on the same mount. Two were sold at Christie's New York, 31 May 1990, lot 43 (The Battle of the Dunes) and Christie's London, 7 July 1992, lot 57 (Archduke Maximilian giving fealty to King Louis XI). The fourth sheet, The Centurion before Christ, is in a private collection.
The drawing is part of a series which was engraved for a book by Father Gabriel Daniel on the History of France. It was published by Denys Mariette and Jacques Rollin in 1729, although it was announced two years earlier. Pierre-Jean Mariette owned an album of 27 drawings for that publication, now in the Louvre, J. Guiffrey and P. Marcel, Inventaire gnral des Dessins du Muse du Louvre et du Muse de Versailles, Ecole Franaise, Paris, 1909, nos. 2163-2189 (as Cazes).
The four Este drawings were published in 1953 as being by Fragonard, although already in his Abcdario Mariette mentions a series of drawing of that style in his life of Boucher.
The drawing is part of a series which was engraved for a book by Father Gabriel Daniel on the History of France. It was published by Denys Mariette and Jacques Rollin in 1729, although it was announced two years earlier. Pierre-Jean Mariette owned an album of 27 drawings for that publication, now in the Louvre, J. Guiffrey and P. Marcel, Inventaire gnral des Dessins du Muse du Louvre et du Muse de Versailles, Ecole Franaise, Paris, 1909, nos. 2163-2189 (as Cazes).
The four Este drawings were published in 1953 as being by Fragonard, although already in his Abcdario Mariette mentions a series of drawing of that style in his life of Boucher.