Open IIIF manifest What is IIIF IIIF viewers

Outbuildings of an inn

Maker

(artist)
1715-1808

Title

Date of Production

1767

Medium

red-brown chalk on laid paper, laid down

Dimensions

Height: 19.5 cm
Width: 29.2 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.3317

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

outbuildings

Label Text

The German-born Wille made his career as an engraver in Paris. During the 1760s he went on regular annual excursions to sketch nearby beauty spots and his diary records a trip to draw in the vicinity of Arpajon in 1767, probably the correct date for this drawing. Wille's style belongs to the eighteenth-century decorative manner of his French contemporaries, and like Oudry, Boucher and Natoire, he drew in the gardens of Arcueil. He was also influenced by his appreciation of Dutch art and helped to popularise it through his engravings.

Notes

The date of '1766' seems to have been added later, and Wille made a trip to Arpajon in 1767, so more likely that is the date of this drawing.

Provenance

anonymous sale, Sotheby's (London), 7 December 1938, lot 1 (as part of 'a Volume of Drawings by the Old Masters...'); purchased there by Colnaghi (London); purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), L.2228b, 22 September 1943 (£9); Witt Bequest 1952

Exhibition History

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

France in the eighteenth century, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 06/01/1968-03/03/1968

A selection of drawings from the Witt collection: French drawings c. 1600-c. 1800, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 1962 ...More

French Master Drawings, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea, 1962

French Masters - Rococo to Romanticism, UCLA, Los Angeles, 1961 ...Less

Literature

British Museum, French landscape drawings and sketches of the eighteenth century, London 1977
no. 46

French Drawings: XVI-XIX Centuries, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1991
no. 50, p. 110
ill. on p. 111

Woodall, Joanna, 'Ad Vivum' conference pop-up display introduction, London

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: unable to check due to thick backing sheet.

Inscription: Recto: upper right edge, grey ink, signed by the artist: “J.G. Wille desine pour son desert, cette partie de l’Auberge ou il dinoit avec les Camarade[s] / entre Estampes et Arpageon. //” and in a dark brown ink is added the date “1766.”. Verso (backing sheet): upper right corner, graphite, abraded and cut off by the right edge: “by Wille the [...] / a set of 4 [...]engr [...] / + mentioned in h[...] //”.

Collector's mark: Verso (backing sheet): lower left edge, stamped in black ink: Sir Robert Witt (L.2228b).

Information on this object may be incomplete and will be updated as research progresses. We are particularly committed to addressing any discriminatory or offensive language and ideas that might be present in our records. To help improve this record, and to enquire about images of The Courtauld Gallery Collection, please email gallery.collectionsonline@courtauld.ac.uk. Find out more about using and licensing our images.

____________________________

Buy a print from our collection