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Study for a seated Provost of Merchants of Paris

Maker

Workshop of
(artist)
1645-1730

Title

Date of Production

1719 - 1725

Medium

red, black and white chalk with stumping, on grey-brown laid paper, laid down

Dimensions

Height: 40.2 cm
Width: 27 cm

Accession Number

D.1959.WF.4693

Mode of Acquisition

Witt Fund, purchase, 1959

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

provosts

Label Text

The model in this preparatory drawing for a group portrait of Paris’s city officials is likely one of De Troy’s studio assistants wearing the provost’s red and tan satin robes rather than the actual sitter, whose head would have been studied separately. The tentative rendering of the face and the unsophisticated juxtaposition of colours in the robes suggest the hand of an artist in De Troy’s workshop rather than that of the master himself.

Provenance

Gilbert Paignon-Dijonval (1708-1792); anonymous sale, Christie's (London), 17 February 1959, lot 51 (as 'A Lady seated'); purchased there by Colnaghi (London); purchased there by The Courtauld via the Witt Fund, 7 May 1959 (£90)

Exhibition History

Special Display - French Portraits, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 14/06/2013-02/09/2013

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 ...More

Old Master Drawings, Colnaghi, London, 28/05/1959-27/06/1959 ...Less

Literature

Bénard, M., Cabinet de M. Paignon Dijonval, Paris 1810
no. 2909

Exhibition of Old Master Drawings, Colnaghi, London, 1959
cat. no. 36

France in the eighteenth century, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1967-1968
cat. no. 686 ...More

French Drawings: XVI-XIX Centuries, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1991
no. 20, p. 46
ill. on p. 47

François de Troy (1645-1730), Musée Paul-Dupuy, Toulouse, 1997
pp. 111-112
fig. 4 on p. 112 ...Less

Inscriptions

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

Inscription: Recto: lower right corner, brown ink: “F. de Troy”. Verso (backing sheet): upper left corner, graphite: “462”; lower left corner, graphite: “1326_ / F. de Troy 2909 //”; lower right corner, graphite: “De Troy pere.”. Mount (removed): Verso: upper left, graphite: "A23421"; upper right, graphite: "LA / 36 [circled]"; centre, graphite: "Francois de TROY the elder / 4693"

Collector's mark: none.

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