Attributed to Augustin de Saint-Aubin Paris 1736 - 1807

This drawing has traditionally been described as a portrait of the Dauphin and the sitter closely resembles the portrait bust of that unfortunate child now at Versailles.¹  Louis Charles, the younger son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, was born at Versailles on 27 March 1785.  He became Dauphin upon the death of his elder brother on 4 June 1789 and, following his father's execution on 21 January 1793, was proclaimed King Louis XVII by the Royalists.  He never ruled and is said to have died in prison in Paris on 8 June 1795.

This portrait appears to be by the same hand as several which are generally associated with Augustin de Sain-Aubin, for instance the Portrait of a Woman once in the Goncourt collection and sold, Paris, Christie's, 21 March 2002, lot 286.

1. See Simone Hoog, Musée National du Château de Versailles, Catalogue, Les Sculptures,..., Paris 1993, p. 249, no. 1127

2. See E. Launay, Les frères Goncourt collectionneurs de dessins, Paris 1991, no. 279