Live auction - Lot 49
[Flemish school]
Study after sculptures of children.
18th c
€ 700 / 800
Live bidding (Drouot*) Live bidding (Invaluable*)Bidding is closed
Lot description
Drawing, black chalk, heightened with white, 30 x 50,5 cm, blue laid paper, unsigned (small hole upwards to the right).
Eleven putti sitting, standing, kneeling, lying; head up, down, turned; arms raised, stretched towards the ground, across the chest. Although a later copy, this drawing is valuable as it depicts numerous statuettes of putti, most probably terracottas, modelled by Duquesnoy (Brussel 1597-1643 Livorno). It was drawn after models kept in an artists' workshop or belonging to a collector such as those from the 18th century in Paris: Girardon, Crozat, Croyat du Châtel, etc. Several of these putti relate to extant Duquesnoy sculptures.
Ref. Boudon-Machuel, Marion - François du Quesnoy. Paris, Athena, 2005, fig. 46, In.82 dér. 1 (i.e. our drawing); In.107 dér.1 and In.111 dér. 1.