JEAN-BAPTISTE DESHAYS (ROUEN 1729-1765 PARIS)

In this typically pictorial sketch, Deshays, an artist from Rouen and a student of Collin de Vermont and Jean Restout, probably depicts an episode from the Old Testament, when Korah and the Korahites, following the curse of Moses, were swallowed up by the earth (Numbers 16: 31-35). The pronounced chiaroscuro effects, obtained with white bodycolor, is typical of the artist’s manner. A similar technique can be found in the sketch depicting the Resurrection of Lazarus in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (inv. 26200; see Bancel, op. cit., no. D. 107, ill.), and in Tobit burying the dead in the Jeffrey Horvitz Collection (inv. D-F-79/1.1993.43; see Méjanès, op. cit., no. 84, ill.). According to André Bancel, these drawings were produced towards the end of the artist’s career, around 1763-1764.