Old Master Drawings

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Lot 108
  • 108

François Boucher

Estimate
40,000 - 60,000 USD
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Description

  • François Boucher
  • Aurora seducing the sleeping hunter Cepahalus: Allegory of Air;
  • Black chalk with stumping heightened with white on blue paper;
    bears attribution on the mount, lower right: F. Boucher
  • 11 x 14 3/4 inches

Provenance

Marquis de Marigny, sale of his estate, Paris, 18 March 1782 and following days, lot 289 (together with the previous lot);
Veil-Picard Collection;
sale, Paris, Artcurial, Hôtel Dassault, 19 June 2007, lot 21 (together with the previous lot);
Private Collection

Literature

A. Ananof, François Boucher, Lausanne and Paris 1976, vol. II, p. 296, no. 670/1 (subject misidentified as Venus and Endymion), reproduced p. 295, fig. 1750

Condition

Laid down. Overall in good condition. Chalk remains strong (blue paper has faded). Sold in carved and gilded frame.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

Like the previous lot (see note), this fine, free drawing is Boucher's initial idea for the composition of one of the series of major tapestries, known as Les Tentures de Boucher, which he designed for the royal Gobelins manufactory.  The series was conceived as early as 1755, but their production only began in 1763. 

Boucher's composition of Neptune and Amymone remained essentially unchanged, except for details, as it progressed from preliminary drawing, through large painting on canvas, to the ultimate tapestry, but the same cannot be said of the present composition.  Here, as he moved on from the initial drawing to the painting (now in the Louvre)1, the artist rotated the composition into an upright orientation, and also reversed the positioning of the figures of Aurora and Cephalus - changes that were retained in the final tapestry.2  A few years later, in 1769, Boucher returned to the theme of Aurora and Cephalus, in a tall, narrow decorative painting, now in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.3

1 Ananoff, op. cit., p. 156, no. 481, fig. 1344

2 Idem, p. 157, no. 481/4, fig. 1347

3 Idem, p. 295, no. 670, fig. 1751