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Lot Essay
A central figure in Napoleonic cultural policy, Denon was active as a diplomat, writer, archaeologist and draughtsman, and moved within leading artistic and intellectual circles, notably those of the comte de Caylus and Jacques‑Louis David.
During his travels, he kept small sketchbooks in which he captured figures from life, making portraiture a favoured subject, though never a professional pursuit. Few of these drawings survive today, despite their originally considerable number, as evidenced by the posthumous sale (P. Rosenberg, Dominique‑Vivant Denon, l’œil de Napoléon, exh. cat., Paris, musée du Louvre, 1999-2000, p. 79).
One of a group of sheets assembled in a sketchbook in the 19th century, sold in 1989 and dismembered (see provenance), it may be compared to another Portrait of a seated woman, representing the Duchess of Vicenza and her child, which shares a similar early provenance (private collection; Paris, Le dessin en France, exh. cat., Paris, Galerie de Bayser, 1990, no. 18, ill. p. 28).
During his travels, he kept small sketchbooks in which he captured figures from life, making portraiture a favoured subject, though never a professional pursuit. Few of these drawings survive today, despite their originally considerable number, as evidenced by the posthumous sale (P. Rosenberg, Dominique‑Vivant Denon, l’œil de Napoléon, exh. cat., Paris, musée du Louvre, 1999-2000, p. 79).
One of a group of sheets assembled in a sketchbook in the 19th century, sold in 1989 and dismembered (see provenance), it may be compared to another Portrait of a seated woman, representing the Duchess of Vicenza and her child, which shares a similar early provenance (private collection; Paris, Le dessin en France, exh. cat., Paris, Galerie de Bayser, 1990, no. 18, ill. p. 28).