CHARLES-ANTOINE COYPEL | Study of the bust of an old man, for The Supper at Emmaus

Collection Albert Van Loock (né en 1917), Bruxelles (sa marque L. 3752, en bas à droite) ; 
Acquis à sa galerie en 1971.

Rennes, 2012, n^o 59a (notice par Nicole Garnier) ;
Sceaux, 2013 (sans catalogue)

T. Lefrançois, Charles Coypel Peintre du Roi (1694-1752), Paris, 1994, cat. D. 88, pp. 455-456, repr. p.339

Hinged to the mount at upper margin. A few light brown stains scattered across sheet. Band of discolouration at upper and lower margins. A slight crease running vertically down the left side of the sheet, near the margin. Left margin has uneven edges. Chalk remains strong and vibrant. Sold unframed.
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This highly expressive and animated study of the bust of an old man is another preparatory drawing for Charles Antoine Coypel’s painting, The Supper at Emmaus (see the previous lot). Executed in the same medium as the study of Christ and also squared for transfer, the figure is a study for the central seated pilgrim.

Coypel’s drawing, very close to the final figure in the painting, shows the artist carefully studying the awestruck face of the Pilgrim as he clasps his hands together and looks towards Christ. This study embodies the theatricality that Coypel was able to bring to his compositions, achieving great success in communicating the feelings of his figures and enhancing the story-telling aspect of his paintings.

As Monsieur Adrien has aptly observed, Charles Antoine Coypel must have seen his father Antoine Coypel’s study of Two Old Men, now in the Louvre, Paris. The Louvre study, a preparatory drawing for Jesus in the Temple with the Doctors, commissioned for Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, portrays a similar bearded man with hands clasped together.¹

^1. Paris, Musée du Louvre, inv. no. RF 25706; T. Lefrançois, op. cit., Paris 1994, p. 339, no. D. 88A