Eustache Le Sueur (Paris 1617-1655) Etude de figure

Eustache Le Sueur (Paris 1617-1655)
Etude de figure
porte une inscription 'LeSueur' (en bas à droite)
pierre noire sur papier beige

bears an inscription 'LeSueur' (lower right)
black chalk on beige paper
27.2 x 30.5cm (10 11/16 x 12in).
The present drawing does not seem to be in preparation for a particular painting of Le Sueur, even if it is close to the figure of Tobias in the painting with the Marriage of Tobias and Sarah, now in the collections of the Banque Paribas, Paris (see A. Mérot, Eustache Le Sueur, Paris, 1987 and 2000, n. 66, p. 219).
Le Sueur painted at least two other versions of this episode (Ibid., n. 112, p. 264; n. M 107, p. 360 an the present drawing may relate to the latter, for which there is only one mention).

We are grateful to Professor Alain Mérot for confirming the attribution based on colour photographs.