

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, 6epériode, 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