After Louis de Boullogne the Younger

A copy after the composition by Louis de Boullogne the Younger (1654-1733), one of four works depicting The Four Elements, known from engravings made between 1717 and 1721 by Charles Dupuis and Louis Desplaces (engraved the present subject, 1718). The whereabouts of Boullogne’s original paintings on which the prints are based are today unknown, though numerous preparatory drawings exist, some with variations and some in the opposite sense of the engravings.¹

1. See H. Guicharnaud, 'Le Quartre Eléments de Louis de Boulogne: etudes préparatoires', in Revue du Louvre, no. 4, 1985, pp. 265-274.