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Lot Essay
A compositional study for Mose sauv des Eaux, commissioned on 23 October 1701 by King Louis XIV, and now in the Louvre, M. Stuffman, 'Charles de la Fosse et sa position dans la peinture franaise la fin du XVIIme sicle', Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1964, no. 49, fig. 13, p. 50. A reference in a register in the Archives Nationales records an order 'de faire par La Fosse et Coypel le jeune deux tableaux la place de ceux de Poussin qui ne peuvent plus servir dans le Cabinet du Billard, se trouvant trop grand pour les places et d'y faire les mmes sujets, savoir Mose sur les eaux par La Fosse et la Rbecca au puits par Coypel', N. Garnier, Antoine Coypel, Paris, 1989, under n 81 Historique. Coypel and La Fosse's pictures were commissioned by the King to replace the horizontally shaped Poussin, no longer adapted to the new Boiseries. However, King Louis XIV insisted that the two replacing compositions would represent the same subjects.
The present drawing is the only known study by La Fosse for this composition. A red chalk drawing in Besanon was previously given by Margaret Stuffman to La Fosse, but has now been rejected by Joanne Hedley, M. Stuffman, op. cit., fig. 14, p. 51. An autograph oil sketch and replica are in private collections in England and in Frankfurt respectively, M. Stuffman, op. cit, n 5o and 51, illustrated.
The composition, which was to replace Poussin's picture, is clearly inspired by Veronese's treatment of the subject. Veronese's horizontal Mose sauv des Eaux, now in the Muse des Beaux-Arts, Dijon, was once in the Royal Collection. More importantly, a vertical version, now in the Hermitage, belonged to Pierre Crozat, one of La Fosse's most important patrons. That version is very close to La Fosse's composition. The same grouping of the three figures on the left of Pharaoh's daughter, who stands besides a tree, can be found in La Fosse's drawing, as well as the idea of the cradle lifted out of the water.
The subject must have been popular in the circle of the famous banker, as Watteau, another of his protgs, drew a similar composition, now in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, P. Rosenberg and L.A. Prat, Antoine Watteau 1684-1721, Paris, 1995, n 379, illustrated.
The present drawing is the only known study by La Fosse for this composition. A red chalk drawing in Besanon was previously given by Margaret Stuffman to La Fosse, but has now been rejected by Joanne Hedley, M. Stuffman, op. cit., fig. 14, p. 51. An autograph oil sketch and replica are in private collections in England and in Frankfurt respectively, M. Stuffman, op. cit, n 5o and 51, illustrated.
The composition, which was to replace Poussin's picture, is clearly inspired by Veronese's treatment of the subject. Veronese's horizontal Mose sauv des Eaux, now in the Muse des Beaux-Arts, Dijon, was once in the Royal Collection. More importantly, a vertical version, now in the Hermitage, belonged to Pierre Crozat, one of La Fosse's most important patrons. That version is very close to La Fosse's composition. The same grouping of the three figures on the left of Pharaoh's daughter, who stands besides a tree, can be found in La Fosse's drawing, as well as the idea of the cradle lifted out of the water.
The subject must have been popular in the circle of the famous banker, as Watteau, another of his protgs, drew a similar composition, now in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, P. Rosenberg and L.A. Prat, Antoine Watteau 1684-1721, Paris, 1995, n 379, illustrated.