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X. Un Sujet champêtre

Entered June 2019

 

Whereabouts unknown

Oil on canvas

30.5 x 25.4cm

 

PROVENANCE

Paris, collection of Charles Jean Goury de Champgrand, known as the marquis de Champgrand (1732 – 1799; military officer). His sale (sold under the pseudonym Verrier), Paris, November 18-23, 1776, lot 89: “ANTOINE WATTEAU . . . Un sujet champêtre, où respire la gaieté. Il est compose de trois figures: la principale est un Berger, tenant un baton, autour duquel est un cep de vigne. A peu de distance est une jeune femme, soutenant un buveur qui s’avance  en présentant un flacon de vin & son verre. Haureur 12 pouces; largeur 10 pouces. T.” It sold for 206 livres to Vautrain.

 

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

Dacier, “Catalogue de la vente Verrier” (1953), 318, 329.

 

REMARKS

 

Gabriel de St. Aubin visited the Verrier sale and, as was his habit, he recorded the pictures in the margin of his copy of the sale catalogue. While these thumbnail sketches are often useful in reconstructing the appearance of the painting, here the sketch of lot 89, Watteau’s Sujet champêtre, is insufficiently precise. While one can perhaps distinguish the three principal figures, their attributes and actions cannot be read.