CHARLES-JOSEPH NATOIRE (NÎMES 1700-1777 CASTEL GANDOLFO)

These are studies for the figures of Jacob and Rachel in the painting Jacob and Rachel leaving the house of Laban in the High Museum of Art in Atlanta (inv. 1983.1; see Caviglia, op. cit., 2012, no. P. 24, ill.). The painting, together with two other canvases with episodes from the Old Testament, was commissioned in 1732 by Louis-Antoine de Pardaillan de Gondrin, duc d’Antin and directeur général des bâtiments du Roi, for his residence in Paris. Another study for the same painting is at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento (inv. 1871.439; see ibid., no. D. 113, ill.).