Lot Essay
A study for the central figure of the bridegroom The Marriage Contract purchased by the Marquis de Marigny at the 1761 Salon for his own collection. E. Munhall, op. cit., no. 34, illustrated on the cover. The picture was bought for King Louis XVI at the Marigny sale in 1782 and is now in the Louvre.
Another study for the same figure in stumped black and red chalk, similar in size, is in the Chicago Art Institute, Munhall, op. cit., no. 33, illustrated. The present drawing presumably precedes the Chicago version, since the position of the legs is closer to that of the picture.
The picture represents the registration of the wedding contract in the presence of a notary and the moment when the son-in-law receives the dowry from the hands of the bride's father. The composition might be inspired by Greuze's own marriage that had taken place two years earlier.
The picture, according to a letter from Cochin to Marigny, was finished by September 1761 and was exhibited at the Salon 'aussitôt qu'il sera séché'. The picture was bought before the Salon by Marigny for the fabulous sum of 39,000 livres, but it only fetched 16,650 livres at his sale in 1782. Mariette in his entry on Greuze in the Abécédario described the picture as 'justement regardé comme le chef d'oeuvre de ce peintre...Je souhaite me tromper, mais je crois que ce peintre ne fera jamais rien de plus accompli'.
The figure of the fiancé was particularly praised by the critics: Diderot described it as 'Le fiancé est d'une figure tout à fait agréable...il est un peu penché vers son beau-père; il prête attention à son dicours, il en a l'air pénétré; il est fait au tour et vêtu à merveille, sans sortir de son état', D. Diderot, Salon, ed. Oxford, 1757-67, p. 142. The abbé Joseph de la Porte in the Observateur littéraire in 1761 commented on that figure 'on entend ce qui il [the father] dit au jeune homme à qu il remet le sac d'argent, et qui l'écoute debout avec une attention respectueuse'.
A drawing for the whole composition from the Marquis de Laborde sale in 1783 is now in the Musée du Petit-Palais, Paris (E. Munhall, op. cit., no. 30, illustrated), and a watercolour was in Jean de Julienne's sale in 1767. A large number of drawings related to that composition are still extant and are listed by E. Munhall, op. cit., p. 85.
Another study for the same figure in stumped black and red chalk, similar in size, is in the Chicago Art Institute, Munhall, op. cit., no. 33, illustrated. The present drawing presumably precedes the Chicago version, since the position of the legs is closer to that of the picture.
The picture represents the registration of the wedding contract in the presence of a notary and the moment when the son-in-law receives the dowry from the hands of the bride's father. The composition might be inspired by Greuze's own marriage that had taken place two years earlier.
The picture, according to a letter from Cochin to Marigny, was finished by September 1761 and was exhibited at the Salon 'aussitôt qu'il sera séché'. The picture was bought before the Salon by Marigny for the fabulous sum of 39,000 livres, but it only fetched 16,650 livres at his sale in 1782. Mariette in his entry on Greuze in the Abécédario described the picture as 'justement regardé comme le chef d'oeuvre de ce peintre...Je souhaite me tromper, mais je crois que ce peintre ne fera jamais rien de plus accompli'.
The figure of the fiancé was particularly praised by the critics: Diderot described it as 'Le fiancé est d'une figure tout à fait agréable...il est un peu penché vers son beau-père; il prête attention à son dicours, il en a l'air pénétré; il est fait au tour et vêtu à merveille, sans sortir de son état', D. Diderot, Salon, ed. Oxford, 1757-67, p. 142. The abbé Joseph de la Porte in the Observateur littéraire in 1761 commented on that figure 'on entend ce qui il [the father] dit au jeune homme à qu il remet le sac d'argent, et qui l'écoute debout avec une attention respectueuse'.
A drawing for the whole composition from the Marquis de Laborde sale in 1783 is now in the Musée du Petit-Palais, Paris (E. Munhall, op. cit., no. 30, illustrated), and a watercolour was in Jean de Julienne's sale in 1767. A large number of drawings related to that composition are still extant and are listed by E. Munhall, op. cit., p. 85.