FRANÇOIS BOUCHER Étude de tête de jeune homme. Circa 1750.
FRANÇOIS BOUCHER
(1703 Paris 1770)
Étude de tête de jeune homme. Circa 1750.
Black, white and red chalk, on formerly blue paper.
18.4 × 14.2 cm.
Certificate:
Françoise Joulie, Château des Bordes, 20 July 2026, no. 2026/07/20/02/3P/GKG.
Provenance:
- Probably Louis-Gabriel-Albert Watel-Dehaynin collection (1885–1972), Paris.
- Fanny and Bernard Watel collection, Lausanne.
- By inheritance to the present Swiss private collection.
The present study of a head can be dated to Boucher's mature period around 1750. It belongs to the group of idealised studies of heads with which the artist prepared individual figures for his paintings. The modelling in black and white chalk and red chalk, probably on formerly blue paper, lends the sheet a pronounced sculptural and painterly quality. In type and lighting, the young man is close to Apollo in Boucher's painting Le Coucher du soleil of 1752 in the Wallace Collection. While the pose and physiognomy are slightly altered in the painting, the light falling from the lower right in particular forms a connecting element.
FRANÇOIS BOUCHER
(1703 Paris 1770)
Étude de tête de jeune homme. Circa 1750.
Black, white and red chalk, on formerly blue paper.
18.4 × 14.2 cm.
Certificate:
Françoise Joulie, Château des Bordes, 20 July 2026, no. 2026/07/20/02/3P/GKG.
Provenance:
- Probably Louis-Gabriel-Albert Watel-Dehaynin collection (1885–1972), Paris.
- Fanny and Bernard Watel collection, Lausanne.
- By inheritance to the present Swiss private collection.
The present study of a head can be dated to Boucher's mature period around 1750. It belongs to the group of idealised studies of heads with which the artist prepared individual figures for his paintings. The modelling in black and white chalk and red chalk, probably on formerly blue paper, lends the sheet a pronounced sculptural and painterly quality. In type and lighting, the young man is close to Apollo in Boucher's painting Le Coucher du soleil of 1752 in the Wallace Collection. While the pose and physiognomy are slightly altered in the painting, the light falling from the lower right in particular forms a connecting element.
