A wooded landscape with two monkeys eating grapes

Fully signed by the artist, this charming painting depicting two monkeys is not recorded in any of the known sources and remains a unicum in Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg’s career. Nevertheless, the handling of the paint is characteristic of the artist's work around 1770-1780, and the brushwork as well as the tonality of the palette are also perfectly typical for him. After moving to London in the early 1770’s, de Loutherbourg was greatly involved in the entertainment world, and this painting may attest to the numerous exotic shows, which were on view in London at that time.