THOMAS BLANCHET | The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple

Collection du chevalier de Damery (mort vers 1803 ?), Paris (L.2862) ;
Vente anonyme, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, M^es Couturier-de Nicolay, 22 mars 1989, n°8 (comme Luca Giordano) ;
Acquis à cette vente

Rennes, 2012, n°38 (notice par Aude Henry-Gobet);
Sceaux, 2013 (sans catalogue)

L. Galactéros-de Boissier, Thomas Blanchet (1614-1689), Paris 1991, p.429, D 69 bis, fig.339

Laid down on an old decorative mount. There are some minor abrasions to the upper left corner of the sheet and the ink has fractionally sunk on the right half of the drawing due to the liberal application of wash by the artist. The drawing remains in otherwise good condition with the medium fresh and the image strong. Sold unframed
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The handling of the present drawing, first attributed to Blanchet by Pierre Rosenberg, can be compared on stylistic grounds to a fine sheet by the artist, previously in the Woodner Collection, depicting St. Mary Magdalene,¹ in which the distinctive application of wash and the use of the white of the sheet to create luminosity are also particularly evident. The scene portrayed in the Adrien drawing is that taken from the Gospel of St. Luke (Chapter 2, verses 25-34), in which the elderly St. Simeon is presented with the Christ Child. Having previously been told by the Holy Ghost that he would not see death before he had seen the coming of Christ, Blanchet depicts the dramatic and highly emotive moment in which Simeon takes Christ in his arms, and with his head raised to Heaven, exclaims "Nunc dimittis servum tuum".

In her comprehensive catalogue of Blanchet's graphic oeuvre, Lucie Galactéros-de Boissier notes that the present work was probably intended to have been used for one of the scenes from the life of Christ, executed by Blanchet whilst in Lyon during the latter years of his career,² though no connection to a painting of the same composition has so far been identified.

^1. See sale, London, Christie's, Old Master Drawings from the Woodner Collection, 2 July 1991, lot 144

^2. Galactéros-de Boissier, op. cit., p. 429, D 69 bis