François Boucher (1703-1770)

A reclining female Nude, turned to the left

Details

François Boucher (1703-1770)
A reclining female Nude, turned to the left
red chalk counterproof, completed and retouched by the artist in black, red and white chalk, touches of red wash on light brown paper, watermark trefoil
11 3/8 x 15 in. (290 x 381 mm.)

Provenance

A. Mouriau (L.1829 and L. 1853).
Georges Ryaux.

Literature

K.G. Boon et al., Le dessin français dans les collections hollandaises, exhib. cat., Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam and elsewhere, 1964, under no. 87.We are grateful
J.W. Niemeijer et al., French Drawings in the 18th Century, exhib. cat., Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam and elsewhere, 1974, under no. 11. A. Ananoff, François Boucher, Geneva, 1976, I, no. 156.1.bis, fig. 511.
P. Jean-Richard, L'oeuvre gravé de François Boucher, Paris, 1978, under no. 1422.

Exhibited

London, Royal Academy of Art, France in the Eighteenth Century, 1968, no. 101.

Engraved

In reverse by J.-B. Michel.

Lot Essay

The present sheet is a counterproof reworked by Boucher of a drawing in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (fig. 1). It differs from the Amsterdam version in the addition of a rock on which the nude is leaning and in a cloth around the left leg. Boucher also reworked part of the figure with red chalk and added some white chalk.
The print illustrated by Pierette Jean-Richard was published by Huquier with the address Faubourg Saint Martin, where he had moved in around 1763. The composition was dated by Ananoff circa 1738. We are grateful to Alastair Laing for confirming the attribution of the drawing.