61 Venus and Cupid
Black, white, red, blue, and green chalk; H: 37.4 cm
(141/4 in.); W: 21.2 cm (8^3 /s in.)
84.GB.20
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: (Verso) inscribed Dessin
donneaM. Denis par M. Boucher, peintre de Vacademie Royal
en avrille 1752 by Boucher on a separate piece of paper
applied to the mount; printed 21 on a separate sheet of
paper applied to the mount.
PROVENANCE: M. Denis; M. de Sireul, Paris (sale, Boi-
leau, Paris, December 3, 1781, lot 51); Victorien Sardou,
Paris (sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, April 27, 1909,
lot 55); Margaret Singer, New York (sale, Doyle Galler-
ies, New York, January 25, 1984, lot 81).
EXHIBITIONS: None.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Ananoff, L'oeuvre dessine de Francois
Boucher (Paris, 1966), p. 205, no. 785.THIS SEEMS TO BE AN INDEPENDENT DRAWING MADE
for its own sake. To judge from the inscription on the
back of the mount, it was given to a M. Denis in 1752.
There are a number of similar sheets by Boucher and his
followers, including one that corresponds in reverse in
almost all details (Kansas City, William Rockhill Nelson
Gallery of Art, inv. 66-16). Aside from the reversal of the
composition, the two differ only in minor sections of the
drapery and foliage and in the richer application of white
in the Museum's drawing, which would appear to date
from around 1750—1752, in accord with its inscription.144 FRENCH SCHOOL • BOUCHER