Jean-Baptiste Leprince

Jean Cailleux (bears his collector's mark, not in Lugt)

London, Matthiesen Gallery, Exhibition of French Master Drawings of the 18th Century, n.d., no.45;
Paris, Galerie Cailleux, Eloge de l'Ovale, 1975, no. 17

Laid down. Small slice made up at bottom left edge; Tear at top center and small area repaired. A small repair also at top left edge. Another at middle of left edge. Some wear as on back of figure at right foreground
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Le Prince was in Russia from 1758 to 1763, joining a large number of French artists who were working there and teaching at the academy in St. Petersburg.  It seems that he travelled around the country a great deal, making sketches of Russian life which provided subjects for much of his work when he returned to France.  He received a major commission in 1764 to provide illustrations for the Abbé Jean Chappe d'Auteroche's Voyage en Sibérie, a deluxe publication which helped encourage the fad for 'russeries'.  Many scenes of Russian dances are known in Le Prince's oeuvre, but the present drawing is very close in composition to a painting formerly in a private collection, New York.¹

1. See K. Rorschach, Drawings by Jean-Baptiste Le Prince for the 'Voyage en Sibérie', exhibition catalogue, Philadelphia, Rosenbach Museum and Library, 1986, p. 34, no. 38, reproduced