François Boucher (Paris 1703-1777)

With its high level of finish and detail, the present sheet is a prime example of Boucher’s preparatory drawings for prints. With its pendant, it belonged to Charles Marin de la Haye; both sheets were engraved by Gilles Demarteau with a dedication to Monsieur De Heusy ‘former mayor of the engraver’s native city of Liège’ and to his wife. A black chalk copy of the drawing presented here is at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (inv. 1999.56.5; see Works of Art from the collection of Mr. & Mrs. John Jay Ide, exhib. cat., San Francisco, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 1990, no. 19, ill.).

We are grateful to Alastair Laing and Françoise Joulie for confirming the attribution of the present drawing based on a photograph and for their help in cataloguing it.