Eustache Le Sueur (Paris 1616-1655)

A study for the putto in the upper left section of the Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence, executed around 1652 for the church of Saint Germain l'Auxerrois and today in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch (Mérot, op. cit., no. 158, fig. 354).
The present drawing possibly belonged to Claude Potier, 'avocat au parlement', who had amassed the most important collection of drawings by Le Sueur in the 18th century. It counted no less than 144 sheets by the artists. More recently, the drawing was part of the collection formed by Anthony Blunt (1907-1983), director of the Courtauld Institute and Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures, great specialist of French 17th century art and exposed at the end of his life as a spy working from the 30's to the early 50's for the Soviet Union.