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Reclining figure, and mask of a bearded man
Study for 'The Burial of Raymond the Deacon' (Louvre)

Maker

Attributed to
(artist)
1629-1687

Formerly attributed to
(artist)
1616-1655

Title

Reclining figure, and mask of a bearded man
Study for 'The Burial of Raymond the Deacon' (Louvre)

Date of Production

1680 - 1689

Medium

black and white chalk on brown laid paper, the upper edge unevenly torn and made up, squared with a blind stylus

Dimensions

Height: 44.1 cm
Width: 40.6 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.1892

Mode of Acquisition

Robert Clermont Witt, bequest, 1952

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords






Related Works

Ecclesiastic holding his beretta Kneeling monk Standing monk - bottom half Standing monk Three draped figures - bottom parts only Two standing monks Figure and drapery studies Standing draped figure, from the waist down (recto) Standing monk (recto) Standing monk Standing monk, and study of a cowl Standing ecclesiastic

Label Text

This chalk drawing, heightened with white, contains two studies: a figure lying on a bed and the mask of an old man. The supine figure, posed with arm upraised, provides a lively drapery study; the fabric that wraps him billows and folds into a landscape of cloth that extends across the table. The mask studies a different sort of landscape: that of the face, in which the muscles, bones and sinews of the man’s visage are cast into relief by the strong light. The textures of his aged skin and curling beard add to the tactile and sculptural quality of this drawing.

Notes

Part of a series in the collection of 13 drawings, first identified by Alain Mérot (1987) as preparatory studies for the 'Life of Saint Bruno' cycle painted in the charterhouse of Bourgfontaine, now lost. Licherie begain this cycle in the 1680s in collaboration with Antoine Bouzonnet-Stella and Claude II Audran, but both of their premature deaths meant he alone painted the majority. Whiteley (2000) and Michielin (2016) both agreed with Mérot. Four similar figure studies are in the British Museum (where attributed to Le Sueur).

Provenance

sold 1887; John Waldie; bound in an album of 45 drawings, listed under 'Various Owners', Sotheby's (London), 28 November 1922, lot 112; Archibald George Blomefield Russell, London and Swanage (1879-1955); purchased from him by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), L.2228b (with 12 others, 28 shillings each), n.d.; Witt Bequest 1952

Exhibition History

Narrative Folds (Pop-up exhibition), The Courtauld Gallery, London, 01/06/2013-01/06/2013

French Drawings: XVI-XIX Centuries, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 04/07/1991-06/10/1991

Old Masters from the Witt Collection, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 01/01/1943-01/05/1943 ...More

17th Century Art in Europe, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 03/01/1938-12/03/1938 ...Less

Literature

Francois Marandet, "Louis Licherie (1642-1687) a la Chartreuse de Bourgfontaine: vingt-deux dessins redecouverts," Les Cahiers d'Histoire de l'Art, 18 (2020): 142-148
p. 143
fig. 5, p. 145
The above page numbers need to be checked.

Michielin, Marijke, 'Sixteen New Drawings by Louis Licherie from an Unpublished Album in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts', Master Drawings Spring 2016; 54, 1
p. 24

Whiteley, John, Catalogue of the collection of drawings in the Ashmolean Museum. Volume VII. French School, Oxford 2000
p. 147 under no. 442 ...More

Mérot, Alain, 'Le dessin francais au XVIIe siècle: vingt ans de recherches' in 'Revue de l'Art', 1994 - 43-50; 105
p. 45

French Drawings: XVI-XIX Centuries, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1991
no. 23, p. 52
ill. p. 53

Mérot, Alain, Eustache Le Sueur, 1616-1655, Paris 1987
cat. no. *37 (Nos D. 21 to D. 31)
pp. 199, 429
As 'not by Le Sueur, but an artist that soon followed, such as Licherie de Beuron'

17th Century Art in Europe, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1938
cat. no. 487
Photocopy in file. ...Less

Inscriptions

Watermark: Verso, upper centre: double circle containing bunch of grapes, written in outer border “B[fleur-de-lis]COLOMBIER?” (see Heawood 2426-2432, though none is a match - all Paris mid- to late-17th century).

Inscription: Verso: right upper edge, brown ink: “30./J.”.

Collector's mark: Verso: lower right corner, stamped in black ink: Sir Robert Witt (L.2228b).

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