Old Master & British Works on Paper
Old Master & British Works on Paper
Pierre Alexandre Wille
Tom Jones: A scene from a French lyric comedy composed by François-André Philidor, derived from the famous literary work of Henry Fielding
No reserve
Lot Closed
July 6, 03:44 PM GMT
Estimate
1,500 - 2,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Pierre Alexandre Wille
Paris 1746 - 1821
Tom Jones: A scene from a French lyric comedy composed by François-André Philidor, derived from the famous literary work of Henry Fielding
Pen and grey, brown and black ink and grey and brown wash;
signed and dated in pen and ink, lower left: P.A. Wille inv. and del. 1767
400 by 345 mm
sale, Paris, Pescheteau-Badin, Godeau et Leroy, Drouot Montaigne, 2 July 1998, lot 111;
sale, Paris, Kapandji Morhange, 2 December 2020, lot 10;
sale, London, Sotheby's, 6 July 2022, lot 140
This animated group of figures represents a scene from Tom Jones, an opéra comique by the French composer François-André Danican Philidor, loosely based on Henry Fielding's 1749 novel of the same name, which was first performed at the Comédie Italienne in Paris on 27 February 1765. This particular moment relates to Act I, Scene 3: Un Salon de Compagnie.
According to the diary kept by Wille's father, Pierre Alexandre saw the opera on 20 November 1766 and as the date inscribed on the present sheet indicates, executed this vibrant composition a year later.
The drawing was once owned by André Meyer (see Provenance), a French industrialist who had amassed by his death one of the finest collections ever assembled of prints, drawings and paintings relating to musical subjects.