Study of three hands, one holding a basket handle

Boldly modeled in the artist’s characteristic technique when working with red chalk, this drawing belongs to a group of studies of arms and hands in the same medium (Jean Martin, Œuvre de J.-B. Greuze, Paris, 1908, nos. 1421-1429, 1434, 1439, 1441). They were likely all made as studies for figures in Greuze’s paintings, but none corresponding to the present sketches have been identified.