A Fine Line: Master Works on Paper from Five Centuries
A Fine Line: Master Works on Paper from Five Centuries
Claude Gillot
Farcical scene with Harlequin as a police commissioner
Auction Closed
July 7, 10:53 AM GMT
Estimate
35,000 - 45,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Claude Gillot
Langres 1673 - 1722 Paris
Farcical scene with Harlequin as a police commissioner
Pen and grey ink with several shades of red wash, within brown ink framing lines;
bears numbering in pen and brown ink, upper right: 3
160 by 210 mm
It has not been possible to identify the subject of this farcical scene, which most probably revolves around marriage contracts and romantic deceptions.1 Under armed guard, a young woman and her lover are brought before Harlequin, who wears the garb of a Commissaire de Police. The aggrieved doctor reacts with surprise.
Dr. Jennifer Tonkovich has kindly suggested a similar dating to the previous lot, circa 1700-1707. For more information on Gillot's celebrated depictions of theatrical subjects, see note to the previous lot.
1. For similar scenes see drawings in the Getty Museum, Los Angeles (Scene from the Italian Comedy, inv. no. 84.GA.66) and in the Morgan Library, New York (Harlequin, False Commissioner, at the Notary, inv. no. 2017)