This drawing relates to Oudry's ambitious project to publish a large series of engravings after his own designs, illustrating Scarron's Roman Comique. Unlike his subsequent series of 276 drawings illustrating the Fables of La Fontaine, the intention to publish engravings after the Roman Comique drawings was stated from the outset.  In the Mercure de France of August 1727, Oudry announced that he had completed 38 large drawings for the project, and stated that he intended to publish prints after them on a subscription basis, at a price of 40 livres.  As with so many projects of this type, the artist's grand plans were never fully realized, but ultimately 26 of the 38 drawings were engraved, some by Oudry himself, others by Gabriel Huquier, and a few by other artists.¹  

As Hal Opperman has described, the prints by Huquier were in the same direction as Oudry’s designs, and in order to achieve this, a series of counterproofs were made from Oudry’s drawings, which were reworked and prepared for the engraver’s use by three artists: Boucher, Natoire and Vanloo.²  The present sheet is one of these retouched counterproofs (eight such sheets are currently known³), and we are most grateful to Hal Opperman for informing us that in this case he believes the reworking was carried out by Natoire.⁴  The original drawing by Oudry from which the counterproof was made, signed and dated 1727, was sold in these Rooms two years ago.⁵

^1.  H. Opperman, Jean-Baptiste Oudry, New York and London 1977, pp. 280-82, 664-66, 886-87

^2.  Opperman, op. cit., and Idem., 'Oudry illustrateur: le Roman comique de Scarron,' Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 6^epériode, LXX, 1967, pp. 329-48

^3.  Four in the Teylers Museum, Haarlem (from Opperman, op. cit., 1977, D181 (Natoire), D190 (Boucher), D191 (Natoire), D194 (Vanloo)), two formerly in the Fürstenberg Collection, Paris (from Opperman D193 (Natoire) and D202 (Boucher)), and one formerly with Galerie L’Estranger, Paris (from Opperman D192 (Boucher)).

^4.  Email of 27 November 2017

^5.  Opperman, op. cit., 1977, vol. II, p. 676, no. D197; sale, New York, Sotheby’s, 28 January 2016, lot 152