60 Reclining Male Figure
Black, red, and white chalk on blue paper; H: 27.9 cm
(n in.); W: 44.1 cm (i7^3 /s in.)
8s.GB.359
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: On mount, at bottom left
corner, inscribed Veateaut in brown ink; Bernard Vaillant
in dark brown ink.
PROVENANCE: Art market, Geneva.
EXHIBITIONS: None.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: B. Schreiber Jacoby, Francois Boucher's
Early Development as a Draughtsman (New York, 1986),
p. 284, no. m.B.26.THIS IS ONE OF VERY FEW SURVIVING DRAWINGS MADE
by Boucher for his first suite of tapestries, the Fetes ita-
liennes. This young man reappears, in reverse, in the
lower right corner of the tapestry entitled L'Operateur or
La Curiosite, which was woven in 1736 at Beauvais.^1 Ac-
cording to Jacoby (1986), this sheet is one of three such
studies known today. The Two Young Girls Begging
(Stockholm, National Museum, inv. 2941/i863)^2 was
executed with the same technique on blue paper. She also
has noted the continuing influence of Watteau on
Boucher, evidenced not only in the figure's pose but also
in his poetic characterization.- A. Ananoff, Francois Boucher (Paris, 1976), vol. i, no. 128,
fig- 459- - Ibid., vol. i, no. 128/2, fig. 458.
142 FRENCH SCHOOL • BOUCHER