59 Study of a Reclining Nude
Red and white chalk on oatmeal paper, strips of paper
added at top and bottom edges; H: 30.9 cm (i2^3 /i6 in.);
W: 24.6cm(9II/i6in.)
84.GB.2I
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: At bottom right corner,
signed F. Boucher in brown ink.
PROVENANCE: Margaret Singer, New York (sale, Doyle
Galleries, New York, January 25, 1984, lot 82).
EXHIBITIONS: None.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: B. Schreiber Jacoby, Francois Boucher's
Early Development as a Draughtsman (New York, 1986),
p. 269, no. m.A.9.
THIS DRAWING IS A STUDY FOR THE FIGURE OF THE
nymph at the left in Boucher's painting Birth of Venus
(location unknown),^1 which appears to date from circa
1732-1735. A full compositional drawing is in the
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento (inv. 401). Other
studies include the twisting female nude at the right and
the figure of Venus herself (London, British Museum,
inv. 5223; formerly Basel, von Hirsch collection [Soth-
eby's, London, June 20, 1978, lot 62], respectively). The
Getty Museum's drawing is closely followed in the paint-
ing and in its use of red and white chalk recalls the prec-
edent of Watteau.i. A. Ananoff, Francois Boucher (Paris, 1976), vol. i, no. 180,
fig. 578.140 FRENCH SCHOOL • BOUCHER