A nude study of man seen from the back, clasping to a tree (recto); Study of the torso of a male nude with his arm raised (verso)

This is a study for one of the figures that appear on the right background in Boullogne's composition of The Flood, known from a painted modello currently on the French art market (Pozzo di Borgo Antique’s, Neuilly). The artist was born into a family of artists and was a pupil of his father, as was his brother Bon de Boullogne (1649-1719). His precocity was recognized when he was awarded the Prix de Rome in 1673; he spent five years in the Italian capital in 1675-1680. On his return to France, he was employed at Versailles and was received into the French Académie in 1681, becoming its director in 1722. In 1724 he received the rare honor of being ennobled by Louis XV, before being appointed Premier Peintre du Roi in 1725. Over two hundred of his drawings are preserved at the Louvre (see A. Schnapper and H. Guicharnaud, Louis de Boullogne, 1654-1733, Paris 1985).