Lot 536
  • 536

Jean-Baptiste Greuze

Estimate
50,000 - 70,000 USD
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Description

  • Jean-Baptiste Greuze
  • A young boy looking up
  • oil on canvas

Provenance

Possibly Laflin, Boston.

Literature

J. Martin and C. Masson, Catalogue raisonnė de l'œuvre peint et dessiné de Jean-Baptiste Greuze, in  C. Mauclair, J.-B. Greuze, Paris 1906, cat. no. 966;
R. Eigenberger, Die Gemälde des Akademie der Bildenden Kunst in Wien, Vienna 1927, cat. no. 917;
E. Munhall, in Diderot & l'Art de Boucher à David, exhibition catalogue, Paris 1985, p. 227;
C. Bailey, The Age of Watteau, Chardin and Fragonard. Masterpieces of French Genre Painting, exhibition catalogue, Ottawa, Washington and Berlin, 2003 - 2004, p. 262. 

Condition

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This work has been restored and can be hung in its current state. There may be remnants of a dirt layer in the clothing and background, but there is an attractive patina to the work as it is. When viewed under ultraviolet light, one can see an old varnish layer in the background. The focus of the retouching is a diagonal restoration beginning above the mouth running into the background to the right of the eye on the right side of the face. This damage extends about 2 inches. There is thinness in the shadowed area on the right of the face and neck that has also been retouched. There are a few isolated retouches within the clothing and in the background. There are visible areas of retouching running down the right and left edges that have not been recently cleaned and are not visible under ultraviolet light.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Catalogue Note

Greuze swiftly brings to life a young boy gazing upwards towards a scene slightly out of his reach. The figure himself is a quotation from the artist's most ambitious genre picture, The Marriage Contract (1761; Musée du Louvre, Paris). The young boy here serves in that larger composition as the brother to the future bride, described by Colin Bailey as "a boy, standing on tip-toes so that he can see all that is happening".In this bust-length canvas, however, Greuze has aged the boy slightly, and in turn transformed him into a stand alone study of pensive inquisitiveness. According to Edgar Munhall, who has examined the picture in the original, at least two further versions of this hitherto unrecorded work exist: one which was sold Paris, Rieunier & Associés, 7 April 2014, lot 17, and another in the collection of the Akademie der Bildenden Kunst, Vienna. Munhall dates all three versions to circa 1761, shortly after the execution of the Marriage Contract, which Greuze exhibited at the Salon in that year. 

Dr. Munhall's original letter of expertise accompanies this lot.