Lot n° 7
Estimation :
30000 - 40000
EUR
Francois Boucher (1703-1770)
Odalisque
circa 1760-1765.
Black stone, white chalk, traces of blue pastel, on a paper (formerly blue).
24 x 33 cm,
Mark of the assembler and framer Glomy (L.1085),
Presented in its Glomy mounting and probably its original frame from the 1770s.
Provenance : - Jean-Baptiste Glomy (1711-1786), Paris, ca. 1770.
- Sale of February 22, 1916, Marius Paulme, expert.
- Le?on Voillemot, Paris, second quarter of the 20th century, - Then by descent until the beginning of the 21st century, - Private collection, Versailles.
Bibliography/Exhibition : - Exposition Franc?ois-Boucher, Paris, Fondation Foch en l'Ho?tel Particulier de M. Jean Charpentier, 9 June - 10 July 1932, n°111.
Our drawing, in private collection for more than a century, composed with the ample, mellow, vaporous technique characteristic of the 1760s of François Boucher, is a variation on the theme of his famous Brown Odalisque (fig.1.), icon of his licentious period.
It is known that at that time, Boucher was very much in demand and traded in an abundance of drawings, not always being able, for lack of time, to produce paintings to satisfy his clients. We know of other drawings of female nudes, also "light", from the same period, of the same format, many of which passed through the hands of the merchant and editor Glomy (fig.2). Certainly he had bought a lot and re-marketed them, once the drawings were mounted and framed.
We thank Mrs. François Joulie and Mr. Alastair Laing for their examinations of the work in person, their confirmations of attribution, as well as for their help in the study of this work.
Comparative illustrations:
Fig.1. François Boucher. Odalisque brune, circa 1745, Paris, Musée du Louvre, inv. RF 2140.
Fig.2. François Boucher. Nude facing left, c. 1765-1769, 27 x 39 cm, Glomy mark, Washington, National Gallery of Art, inv. 1980.64.3.
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