Master Works on Paper from Five Centuries
Master Works on Paper from Five Centuries
Eustache Le Sueur
Study of a man, seen from behind, his head turned to the left and arm outstretched
Auction Closed
January 26, 04:31 PM GMT
Estimate
25,000 - 35,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Eustache Le Sueur
Paris 1616 - 1655
Study of a man, seen from behind, his head turned to the left and arm outstretched
Black chalk heightened with white chalk, on gray paper, squared for transfer;
bears old attribution, in brown ink, lower left and black chalk, lower right : Le Sueur and bears numbering in pen and brown ink, lower right: A3
337 by 189 mm; 13¼ by 7½ in.
bears unidentified collector's mark, lower left (L.1045b);
possibly Collection Moran, Berlin (L.2732);
sale, Paris, Tajan, 6 July 2001, lot 109;
Private Collection
This grand study, squared for transfer, is very characteristic of Eustache Le Sueur's preparatory drawings. These studies are generally drawn in black and white chalk on a gray-brown paper and often feature grid lines in black chalk, relating to the process of transfer to the painting for which they are studies. The combination of chalk on the darker paper tone give Le Sueur's working drawings a striking aesthetic and an instantly recognizable quality.
The present figure, whilst similar in stance and attire to many of the draped figures in Le Sueur's paintings, cannot be definitively linked to one particular painting. A similarly executed drawing, of a draped figure walking to the left, is dated by Alain Mérot to the last years of the artist's life, 1650-1655.1
1. A. Mérot, Eustache Le Sueur (1616-1665), Paris, 1987, no. D.385