BON BOULLOGNE | The Adoration of the Shepherds and the Approach of the Magi

black chalk heightened with white chalk on two sheets of blue paper, the three scenes on further sheets of paper, cut out and laid down

Turcaty Collection;
Marquis Ph. de Chennevieres (L.2073);
his sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 4-7 April 1900, part of lot 48 ('Sept dessins') or 50 ('Cinq dessins');
Teodor de Wyzewa (L.2471);
his sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 21-22 February 1919, lot 24 (as Louis de Boullogne Père);
Lucien Goldschmidt, New York;
Emile Wolf, New York;
Thence by descent to the present owners.

Montreal, Museum of Fine Arts; Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum; Cambridge, Massachusetts, Fogg Art Museum, 'Louis XIII - Louis XVI:  French Drawings from a Private Collection', 1980, no. 16
Tampa Museum, 'Louis XIII - Louis XVI: French Drawings from a Private Collection', 1982, no. 13

Ph. de Chennevières, "Une collection de dessins d'artistes français", 'L'Artiste', December 1896, vol. XII, p. 420 (as Louis de Boullogne le Jeune);
A. Schnapper, "Plaidoyer pour un absent: Bon Boullogne (1649-1717)", 'Revue de l'Art', 1978, vol. XL-XLI, p. 136, fig. 42;
L-A. Prat and L. Lhinares, 'La Collection Chennevières: Quatre siècles de dessins Français', Musée du Louvre, Paris 2007, p. 454, cat. no. 911, reproduced.

Laid down on a card backing. There is some vertical creasing to the centre of the sheet and further creasing to the left and right. There are small losses to the lower left and upper left corners. There are some minor stains in places and some minor rubbing to the chalk medium. The paper remains blue and the medium predominantly fresh throughout. Sold in a giltwood frame.
The lot is sold in the condition it is in at the time of sale. The condition report is provided to assist you with assessing the condition of the lot and is for guidance only. Any reference to condition in the condition report for the lot does not amount to a full description of condition. The images of the lot form part of the condition report for the lot provided by Sotheby's. Certain images of the lot provided online may not accurately reflect the actual condition of the lot. In particular, the online images may represent colours and shades which are different to the lot's actual colour and shades. The condition report for the lot may make reference to particular imperfections of the lot but you should note that the lot may have other faults not expressly referred to in the condition report for the lot or shown in the online images of the lot. The condition report may not refer to all faults, restoration, alteration or adaptation because Sotheby's is not a professional conservator or restorer but rather the condition report is a statement of opinion genuinely held by Sotheby's. For that reason, Sotheby's condition report is not an alternative to taking your own professional advice regarding the condition of the lot.

This highly imposing, yet delicately executed sheet, first attributed to Bon Boullogne by Antoine Schnapper in his groundbreaking 1978 article on the artist (see Literature), is an immensely rare example of Bon’s graphic oeuvre, and made even more exceptional by its unrivaled scale.  In his catalogue entry for the 1980 exhibition, Pierre Rosenberg noted the difficulties in distinguishing Bon’s graphic style from that of his brother, Louis de Boullogne the Younger, highlighting Bon’s "loose, animated outlines and his dappled lighting effects" to distinguish his work, in contrast to "the tighter, more volumetric compositions of his brother."

Though the present work cannot be directly connected to a known painting, the tall, ethereal figures are highly reminiscent of those found in a number of Bon’s painted works, most notably the 'Farewell of Hector and Andromache'.¹ Close stylistic comparisons can also be drawn between the somewhat loose and brittle line of the present work and a similar drawing by Bon in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, depicting 'The Triumph of a Sea Goddess'.²

^1. Bayonne, musée Bonnat-Helleu, inv. no. CM166

^2. New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv. no. 1986.13