FRANÇOIS LE MOYNE | RECTO: HEAD OF A WOMAN TURNING TO HER RIGHT, VERSO: HEAD STUDY OF A WOMAN IN PROFILE

Alexandre Ananoff, Paris (L.3365)

J.-L. Bordeaux, François Le Moyne 1688-1737, and his generation, Neuilly-sur-Seine 1984, p. 158, no. D83, reproduced, fig. 211

Sensitively drawn in red chalk with touches of white chalk, this is a fine example of Le Moyne’s draughtmanship. In terms of the application of chalk, Jean-Luc Bordeaux points out that the ‘delicacy of the contours and the softness of the cross-hatching’ are entirely characteristic of the artist’s style.¹  Many of Le Moyne’s drawings were preparatory studies for his painted commissions but no direct connection between this beautiful head study and a painting have been made. Bordeaux dates this study to the mid-1720s.²

1. Bordeaux, op.cit., p. 158, under no. 83

2. Ibid.