drawing
- Museum number
- 1846,0509.144
- Description
-
A dog and a swan fighting; another bird in reeds behind
Black and white chalk, on blue paper, the sheet extended on the right by another hand
- Production date
- 1701-1755
- Dimensions
-
Height: 284 millimetres
-
Width: 385 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- Hal Opperman describes this is a finished study for the painting dated 1731 now in the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Geneva (Opperman 1977, I, fig. 221). The composition was one that Oudry repeated in various forms and the present drawing, which is so close to the Geneva picture in every detail, was perhaps more likely made after the canvas rather than as a preparatory drawing. Such a record would have been vital in the generation of variants of the design by Oudry and his studio.
Lit.: H.N. Opperman, 'Jean-Baptiste Oudry: (Dissertation submitted ... for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Art, Chicago)', New York and London, 1977, I, under no. P214, p. 436, II, no. D625, p. 743; H. Kurita and M. Koshikawa, in exhib. cat., Nagoya, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art and Tokyo, National Museum of Western Art, 'French drawings from the British Museum: from Fontainebleau to Versailles', 2002, no. 71
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
2002 April-June, Nagoya, Aichi Prefectural Mus of Art, 'French Drawings from the British Museum'
2002 July-Sep, Tokyo, NM of Western Art, 'French Drawings from the British Museum'
- Acquisition date
- 1846
- Acquisition notes
- 1846,0509.144 to 214 were bought by BM for £21 9s
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1846,0509.144
