Jean-Baptiste Greuze
La mauvaise nouvelle
Auction Closed
January 31, 05:59 PM GMT
Estimate
25,000 - 35,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Jean-Baptiste Greuze
Tournus 1725 - 1805 Paris
La mauvaise nouvelle
Pen and brown ink and gray wash over black chalk;
bears old attribution to the backing, verso: Greuze
315 by 238 mm; 12½ by 9 ⅜ in.
his sale, Angers, Hôtel des Ventes, 30 April 1980, lot 60;
sale, London, Christie's, 9 July 1981, lot 200;
with Lorna Lowe, London, by 1984;
sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 11 March 1994, lot 110;
with Jean-François Baroni, Paris
This vigorously drawn sheet was previously dated by Edgar Munhall to circa 1790, a period in which Greuze's drawings are characterized by their very free and lively penwork coupled with generous passages of wash. The artist skillfully represents the seated figure without defining her characteristics in a literal manner. Instead he focuses his energies on capturing the emotion of the scene, resulting in a powerful and highly engaging image.
The subject depicted, that of a despairing woman with her head resting in her right hand while she holds a letter in her left, is highly reminiscent of some of Greuze's studies for Le Reconciliation. The young woman in these studies, particularly that in the collection of the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, Indiana,1 has exactly the same attitude as in our drawing. The drama and angst contained within the present work is consistent with a subject deriving from the theme of romantic relationships, rather than Greuze's popular moralizing genre scenes.
1. Indiana, Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, inv. no. 1996.070.024.a
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