Lot Essay
Errard went to Rome in 1627, and on his return to Paris received the patronage of Mazarin. He left again for Italy in 1666 to be the first director of the Académie de France in Rome. In the 1670s he also served as a principe of the Academia di San Luca.
The technique of the present drawing is comparable with the few known drawings by the artist. The white heightening, applied in crosshatching on a dark background, an engraver's technique, can be compared with that of the sheet dedicated to Queen Christina of Sweden, now in Stockholm, P. Bjurström, French Drawings, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, Stockholm, 1976, no. 387, illustrated, and to the allegorical frontispiece in the Albertina, Vienna, P. Rosenberg, Il Seicento Francese, Milan, 1971, fig. 16. Both these drawings possess the same strong outline, clearly defining the figures, as in the present sheet.
The figure types, especially the putto, are particularly characteristic of Errard's work and recall those in the Albertina sheet. The same winged putto is also present in a signed sheet in Berlin, preparatory for a print, E. Berckenhagen, Die Französischen Zeichnungen der Kunstbibliothek Berlin, Berlin, 1970, p. 78, Hdz 2686, illustrated. It seems that the present drawing may also have been intended as a design for a frontispiece, as is the Albertina drawing. Throughout his career Errard produced numerous designs for frontispieces.
The technique of the present drawing is comparable with the few known drawings by the artist. The white heightening, applied in crosshatching on a dark background, an engraver's technique, can be compared with that of the sheet dedicated to Queen Christina of Sweden, now in Stockholm, P. Bjurström, French Drawings, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, Stockholm, 1976, no. 387, illustrated, and to the allegorical frontispiece in the Albertina, Vienna, P. Rosenberg, Il Seicento Francese, Milan, 1971, fig. 16. Both these drawings possess the same strong outline, clearly defining the figures, as in the present sheet.
The figure types, especially the putto, are particularly characteristic of Errard's work and recall those in the Albertina sheet. The same winged putto is also present in a signed sheet in Berlin, preparatory for a print, E. Berckenhagen, Die Französischen Zeichnungen der Kunstbibliothek Berlin, Berlin, 1970, p. 78, Hdz 2686, illustrated. It seems that the present drawing may also have been intended as a design for a frontispiece, as is the Albertina drawing. Throughout his career Errard produced numerous designs for frontispieces.