Hero and Leander

Details

Théodore Chassériau (Sainte-Barbe de Samana 1819-1856 Paris)
Hero and Leander
signed and dated 'Th. Chassériau 1839'
pencil heightened with white on light brown paper
9¼ x 8 1/8 in. (236 x 208 mm.)

Provenance

C.L. Mairet, his seal and inscription 'Théodore Chassériau 1839 Héro et Léandre Dessin a la mine de plomb C.L. Mairet', on a label attached to the mount.

Literature

L-A. Prat, Inventaire général des dessins de l'école française, dessins de Théodore Chassériau, Paris, 1988, II, p. 820.

Lot Essay

A sketch for this composition is on the verso of folio 16 of an album in the Louvre (L.-A. Prat, op. cit., no. 223, pp. 820-1, illustrated). The composition must have been planned as early as September 1838, the date on the recto of the Louvre drawing. Chassériau painted a picture of the same subject more than ten years later, albeit of very different composition (M. Sandoz, Théodore Chassériau, Paris, 1974, no. 185, pl. CLXIV).

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