Sold Without Reserve | FRENCH SCHOOL, MID 18TH CENTURY | AN ALLEGORY OF SLEEP

The attribution of this alluring panel depicting an allegory of sleep has so far eluded scholars, though most agree it was painted in France in the third quarter of the eighteenth century. The subject matter was a popular one, used by artists to explore a range of warm and cool colors in contrast, as well as opportunity to depict a sensual nude. Indeed the present painting likely dates from the same moment of Fragonard's Aurora Triumphing Over Night from circa 1755-6, now at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.¹

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1. Sold at Sotheby's New York, 31 January 2013, lot 84 to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Inv. no. 2013.62, see https://collections.mfa.org/objects/569519