Lot 68
  • 68

Nicolas-Bernard Lépicié

Estimate
6,000 - 8,000 GBP
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Description

  • Nicolas-Bernard Lépicié
  • An Old Beggar
  • Black chalk and stumping, heightened with white chalk and touches of sanguine brûlée;
    signed in pen and brown ink, lower left: Lépicié 

  • 13 3/4 x 10 3/4 inches

Provenance

François Renaud (L.1042),
sale, Paris, 29 March 1779, lot 205 (sold together with a Study for La Bonne Mère);
Collection Forrain, Annecy
With Galerie Cailleux, Paris;
Emile Wolf, New York,
thence by descent

Exhibited

Cambridge, Massachusetts, Fogg Art Museum; Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum; Montreal, Museum of Fine Arts, French Drawings from a Private Collection: Louis XIII, 1980, p. 151, no. 55, reproduced p. 150, fig. 55;
Tampa Museum, Louis XIII - Louis XVI:  French Drawings from a Private Collection, 1982

Literature

P. Gaston Dreyfus, Catalogue Raisonné de L'oeuvre peint et dessins de Nicolas-Bernard Lépicié (1735-1784), Paris 1923, p. 120, no. 419;
Pierre Rosenberg, French Master Drawings of the 17th and 18th Centuries in North American Collections, London, 1972, no. 82, pl. 110

Condition

Laid down on card. The sheet has very fractionally discoloured and there is a small stain from an old adhesive tab to the upper left corner and a further small brown stain to the upper left edge. There is some minor horizontal creasing to the centre of the sheet. The medium remains predominantly fresh throughout, with the image strong. Sold in a giltwood frame.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

A study for the Beggar in Nicolas Bernard Lépicié's painting, The Old Beggar with Child, signed and dated 1777, now in the collection of Jeffrey E. Horvitz, Boston (fig. 1).1 The painting was a pendant to Lépicié's La Bonne Mère and at the 1779 sale (see Provenance) this drawing was sold together with a study for that composition.

Nicolas-Bernard Lépicié enjoyed a successful career as a painter of history and religious subjects but in the later years of his life he also executed a number of genre scenes which he regularly submitted to the biannual Salons.  The present study epitomises Lépicié's gentle and intimate approach to his genre subjects.  His Old Beggar reaches out his hand in a gesture that is tinged with sadness but manages to strike the right balance of sentimentality, one that is not too overt. The present drawing, whilst a study, satisfies as a work of art in its own right due to its level of finish and the fact it is signed.

1. P. Gaston Dreyfus, op.cit., p. 95, no. 259 (Mendiant Vieux et Enfant); A.L. Clark & C. Leribault, From Watteau to David: The Horvitz Collection, exh. cat., Paris, Petit Palais, 2017, no. 174