Pierre-Antoine Patel the Younger

Baron du Teil de Harelt, Galerie Charpentier, March 1933/4, according to an inscription on the old backing;
Stichting Collectie P. en N. de Boer;
sale, London, Christie's, 4 July 1995, lot 84

A.L. Clark, Mastery and Elegance, Two Centuries of French Drawings from the Collection of Jeffrey E. Horvitz, exhibition catalogue, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, Mass. 1999, p. 364, under cat. no. 26, footnote 1;
N. Coural, Les Patel, Pierre Patel (1605-1676) et ses fils, Le paysage de ruines à Paris au XVII^e siècle, Paris 2001, pp. 125-7, 269, cat. no. PAP 124, reproduced

Sold in a wooden gilded frame. Some silght abrasion and minor losses to pigment at edges. Also some slight cracks to surface where gum arabic is applied to the pool beneath Narcissus. Other very minor losses to pigment in isolated areas, but generally condition is very good.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Pierre-Antoine Patel was the son of the landscapist Pierre Patel, although, unlike his father who worked almost entirely in chalk, le jeune favoured gouache.  This charming study belongs to a group of landscapes executed by Patel between 1678 and 1702, in the same media and with similar dimensions, although mostly on vellum.  In 1795, Jean-Baptiste Lempereur wrote of the series: 'On voit de petit tableaux de paysages peints à gouasse sur velin dans la maniere de Pierre Patel; ils sont faits avec assez de goût et de finesse.  C'est peut etre à ce fils qu'on doit les attribuer.'¹

Other examples are in the Horvitz Collection, Boston and in the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh.²  The majority of the gouaches represent the seasons, the months of the year, or enliven the landscapes with episodes from the bible.  The present drawing, which depicts an episode from Ovid's Metamorphosis, is therefore more unusual.  We see the handsome youth Narcissus as he falls in love with his own reflection, spurning the nymph Echo and her great love for him.  Narcissus was to pine away to death, and Echo was condemned by the goddess Juno to repeat only the last words spoken to her.  She, in sorrow, also wasted away until only her voice remained.

1. N. Coural, op.cit., pp. 125-7

2. A.L. Clark, op.cit., respectively cat. no. 26 and fig. 1