Louis-Léopold Boilly (La Bassée 1761-1845 Paris)

A study for the young street performer, playing a hurdy-gurdy (or vielle à roue), prominently featured in The Entrance to the Jardin Turc, painted by Boilly in 1812 (J. Paul Getty Museum, inv. 2010.11; E. Beeny, in Boilly, 1761-1845, exhib. cat., Lille, Palais des Beaux-arts, 2011, no. 136, ill.). While the central figure of the young boy was carefully modeled with chalk, the two attendants and the dog on the back were just delicately outlined. Given changes and similarities to the figure in the final painting, the drawing might have been executed after the highly finished modello (The J. Paul Getty Museum, inv. 2011.22).

We are grateful to Étienne Breton and Pascal Zuber for confirming the attribution on the basis of photograph.