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Leducq Maison de Ventes aux enchères
46
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Attested to Louis de BOULLOGNE, known as le Jeune
(Paris, 16…
See original version (French)
46
-
Attested to Louis de BOULLOGNE, known as le Jeune
(Paris, 16…
See original version (French)
Estimate €3,000 - €5,000
Voluntary lot
Description
Attested to Louis de BOULLOGNE, known as le Jeune
(Paris, 1654 - Paris, 1733)
Study for a Penitent Mary Magdalene
Verso, fragment of a male nude study.
Black stone and white chalk highlights on beige paper.
Inscription in pen and brown ink, top right: LB
top right: LB
419 x 276 mm
This large, penitent Mary Magdalene is representative of Louis de Boullogne's talent as a draughtsman.
The characteristics of this drawing are identical to those of a similar drawing by Louis de Boullogne in the Musée du Louvre. It is a study for a composition depicting a missionary preaching to Indians (inv. 24948) with a male academy on the reverse. A monogram LB is also drawn on the reverse in pen and brown ink without taking into account the meaning of the academy. Like most of Louis de Boullogne's drawings, it is difficult to date this sheet, but some academies similar to this one have dates ranging from 1698 to 1713. Boullogne was then a professor at the Académie. Our drawing probably dates from this period of his life or after 1713.
Louis de Boullogne, also known as Boullogne le Jeune, came from a family of artists; he was the son of Louis Boullogne and the brother of Bon Boullogne. After winning the Grand Prix for painting at the age of 18, he went to study in Rome from 1676 to 1680. On his return to Paris, he was admitted to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in 1681, where he had a brilliant institutional career. He began teaching there in 1694, became rector in 1723 and then director until his death. At the height of his fame, he was appointed First Painter to the King by Louis XV and received letters of nobility. Boullogne was one of the most sought-after painters of his time for large commissions and monumental settings. He was notably responsible for two mays for Notre-Dame de Paris. He also worked on the most prestigious royal projects, such as the Dôme des Invalides, the chapel at the Château de Versailles, and the decorations for the residences at Marly, Trianon and Fontainebleau.
Although we do not know for which painted composition this drawing was made, we do know that for his compositions he produced countless studies of figures and anatomies in black stone and heightened with white chalk, usually on blue or grey paper, which, like this drawing, bear witness to his academic rigour and talent.
See original version (French)
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Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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