Study of a Sleeping Girl in a Cap
c 1755. Graphite on greenish gray wove paper. 15 1/4 x 11 5/8 inches (390 x 295 mm). Initialed "G. B." in pencil on the lower right recto. In generally good condition with some minor scattered surface soiling. Condition is consistent with age.
This drawing is closely related to two known mid 18th century oils on canvas by Greuze, La Petite Soeur (see Dorotheum, October 12, 2011, lot 402), and The Young Knitter Asleep, c 1755. The original canvas entitled Young Knitter Asleep (“Tricoteuse Endormie”) was unfortunately lost, however, a revised version of the composition was painted by Greuze in 1759, and was offered by Hampel Auctions, Munich, on June 16, 2010 (see lot 360). A popular genre scene, the composition of the sleeping knitter, and a counterpart painting of a sleeping schoolboy, were produced subsequently as engravings. Much of Greuze's work reflects a charming curiosity about the emotional and intellectual development in children, and their innocence of expression when in repose. In their cataloging of The Young Knitter Asleep, Hampel Auctions includes the following expert comments on the history of the canvas from Professor Justus Muller Hofstede, Bonn, August 8, 2001:
“The lost original version of the “Tricoteuse Endormie” was in the cabinet of the well-known Parisian collector De la Live de July around 1759; cf. Edmond de Goncourt-Jules de Goncourt, L'Art du XVII Siècle, 3rd revised and enlarged edition, Part V: Greuze, Paris 1882, Salon of 1759. The original version was very probably made by Jean-Baptiste Greuze as a counterpart to "The Schoolboy Asleep" signed and dated 1755 ... The composition of the painting available to me was re-engraved several times ... Other workshop versions are in the Denver Art Museum and in private ownership."
Item number: 343
Price: $3,000.00
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