Live Auction 1137Old Master & British Drawings & Watercolours
Jean-Michel Moreau, called Moreau le Jeune (Paris 1741-1814)
Lot 51

Jean-Michel Moreau, called Moreau le Jeune (Paris 1741-1814)

'Voilà l'homme de Platon': An illustration to Jean-Jacques Barthélémy's Voyage du jeune Anacharsis en Grèce

Closed2 July 2013

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GBP 11,250

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Jean-Michel Moreau, called Moreau le Jeune (Paris 1741-1814)
'Voilà l'homme de Platon': An illustration to Jean-Jacques Barthélémy's Voyage du jeune Anacharsis en Grèce
signed and dated 'J.M. Moreau Le Je an 6e [1798]' in the lower border and inscribed 'J'y vis arriver un homme âgé d'environ 45 ans. Il etoit sans souliers ... avec une longue barbe ... et un manteau, sous lequel il tenoit un coq en vie et sans plumes. il le jeta au milieu de l'assemblée, en disant: "Voilà l'homme de Platon" Jeune Anacharsis. Tom. II'
traces of black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash
6½ x 9 1/8 in. (16.5 x 23.1 cm.)

Specialist note

First published in 1787, Jean-Jacques Barthélemy's Voyage du jeune Anacharsis en Grèce dans le milieu du IVe siècle was written as a travel memoir by a young Scythian, intended to offer an introduction to ancient Greek culture. The present drawing illustrates volume II, chapter 5, in which Anacharsis visits the Academy of Plato. Bald and white-bearded, the figure of Plato is clearly modelled on Raphael's vision of the philosopher in The School of Athens, one hand raised towards the heavens to indicate the eternal world of ideas.