Lot Essay
These two designs are part of a set of seven pairs, engraved by Jean-François Blondel around 1735 and published by Jacques Huquier (M. Roux, Inventaire du fonds français. Bibliothèque nationale, département des Estampes. Graveurs du XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1934, III, pp. 40-55). Four other preparatory drawings in red chalk for this project are known: one depicting musical instruments in the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris (inv. E.B.A O.503; see François Boucher et l’art rocaille dans les collections de l’École des Beaux-Arts, exhib. cat., Paris, École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Sydney, Art Gallery of New South Wales, and Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, 2003-2006, no. 65, ill.); another illustrating the arts is in the Kunstbibliothek, Berlin (inv. 6632; see E. Berckenhagen, Die französischen Zeichnungen der Kunstbibliothek Berlin, Berlin, 1970, p. 243, ill.); and a further pair from the Beurdeley collection is in the State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg (inv. 28087).