FRENCH SCHOOL, 19TH CENTURY

The large and highly-finished drawing depicts the infamous Lais of Corinth, according to the inscription at lower center. Lais of Corinth was a fifth-century B.C. courtesan, though her historical notoriety is likely a result of a conflation of various women's identities over time. Considered to be astonishingly beautiful, she attracted many men, from philosophers to Olympic athletes. Not many artistic representations of Lais are known and the most famous is a painting by Hans Holbein in the Kunstmuseum in Basel.

The drawing is reminiscent of those by the French artist Louis Lafitte (1770-1828) created as calendar illustrations (V. Mathis, 'L’Annuaire de l’ancien et du nouveau calandrier’, Cahiers d’histoire de l’art, no. 21, 2023, pp.117-133).