Rendezvous in the Palais Royal

1774

Gabriel Jacques de Saint-Aubin

Associated Names
Gabriel de Saint-Aubin

Artist, French, 1724 - 1780

This is a drawing depicting a classical statue on a pedestal surrounded by figures etched into the background. The image shows a detailed charcoal or pencil drawing of a nude male statue on a stone pedestal. The statue's pose is classic, with one hand holding a cloth and the other resting on its shoulder. The setting includes intricate background details such as another figure-like sculpture in the shadows. Towards the right, there are sketches of seated figures, possibly women, suggested by their attire and demeanor. The style and composition suggest an academic study of form and posture, rendered with meticulous attention to detail found in classic art. The shading techniques emphasize the contours of the body and create a sense of light and shadow. The drawing is dated "20 May 1774" at the bottom.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    black chalk and graphite with stumping, pen and brown ink, and touches of white chalk, on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 22.4 x 14.7 cm (8 13/16 x 5 13/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1961.17.64

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Dacier 1931, no. 543

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Alfred Beurdeley (Lugt 421)

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1900

  • Rétrospective de la ville de Paris. Exposition Universelle de 1900, Paris, no. 265.

1951

  • Le dessin français de Watteau à Prud'hon. Galerie Cailleux, Paris, 1951, no. 138.

1958

  • French Drawings from American Collections: Clouet to Matisse. Museum Boymans van Beuningen, Rotterdam; Mus2e de l'Orangerie, Paris; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 1958-1959, no. 80.

1961

  • An Exhibition of French Masters: Rococo to Romanticism. UCLA Art Galleries, Los Angeles, 1961, no. 41.

1968

  • France in the Eighteenth Century. Royal Academy of Arts, 1968, no. 629, fig. 320 (Denys Sutton with Francis Watson).

1975

  • Prints and Drawings by Gabriel de Saint-Aubin, 1724-1780. Davison Art Center Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, and Baltimore Museum of Art, 1975, no. 53 (Victor Carlson, Ellen D'Oench, and Richard S. Field).

2009

  • Renaissance to Revolution: French Drawings from the National Gallery of Art, 1500-1800. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2009, 158-159, 284, no. 68 (color).

Bibliography

1877

  • Portalis, Baron Roger de. Les dessinateurs d'illustrations au 18e siècle. 2 parts in 4 vols. Paris, 1877, 2 (pt. 1): 570.

1929

  • Dacier, Emile. Gabriel de Saint-Aubin, peintre, dessinateur et graveur. 2 vols. Paris, 1929-1931, 2: 95, no. 543.

1980

  • Rosasco, Betsy. "Notes on Two Gabriel de Saint-Aubin Drawings and the Statues They Depict." Studies in the History of Art 9 (1980): 51, 52, 55, fig. 1.

2001

  • Hedin, Thomas F. "The Petite Commande of 1664: Burlesque in the Gardens of Versailles." The Art Bulletin 83, no. 4 (December 2001): 654, 662 (fig. 19), 679, 680 note 26, 684 note 202.

Inscriptions

lower center: 20 may 1774 / a 8 hr du Soir; verso, in another hand in graphtie: 4 St. Aubin

Wikidata ID

Q64570989

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