Saint Luke at His Easel and Four Expressive Heads

1775

Jean Claude Richard de Saint-Non after Jean-Honoré Fragonard after Andrea Celesti

Associated Names
Jean-Claude-Richard, Abbé de Saint-Non

Artist, French, 1727 - 1791

Andrea Celesti

Artist After, Italian

Jean Honoré Fragonard

Artist After, French, 1732 - 1806

This is a drawing of an artist receiving inspiration. The upper portion shows a seated artist holding a paint palette and a drawing tool, looking up at a small winged figure hovering above a canvas. The winged figure appears to be guiding the artist's hand. The lower portion features sketches of four bearded heads with quick, expressive lines and shading. The drawing uses sepia-like ink and has fluid lines and textures, illustrating creative inspiration.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    etching [counterproof] reworked in brown wash on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Gift of the Christian Humann Foundation

  • Dimensions

    sheet (trimmed within plate mark): 18.3 x 13.1 cm (7 3/16 x 5 3/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1996.128.38

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Cayeux 1963, no. 290

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Galerie Cailleux, Paris); purchased by Christian Humann; The Christian Humann Foundation, Paris, 1981; gift to NGA, 1996.

Associated Names

Bibliography

1963

  • Cayeux Jean de. "Introduction au catalogue critique des griffonis de Saint-Non." Bulletin de la Société de l'histoire de l'art français, 1963: pp. 297-384. Paris: F. de Nobele, 1964. Separately published. Paris Librairie Armand Colin, 1964.

Inscriptions

center left in pen and brown ink: cavaliere celesti / Eglise de St. Jean et Paul a venise; lower center in pen and brown ink: fragonard; by later hand, upper left in graphite: 148

Wikidata ID

Q75125826

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