- Museum number
- 1856,0712.30
- Description
-
Study for Eraste tearing a letter in Molière's 'Le Dépit Amoureux'; whole-length young man standing almost to front, looking left, wearing long jacket and breeches, with a separate study of his hands
Red chalk
- Production date
- 1734
- Dimensions
-
Height: 282 millimetres
-
Width: 188 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- A preparatory study for one of illustrations engraved by Laurent Cars and Pierre-Quentin Chedel in the six volume works of Molière printed in Paris in 1734 (see 1914,0228.2965 for an impression of the print). Boucher provided 33 illustrations of Molière's plays choosing to represent the protagonists in contemporary costume. The related figure appears in reverse in the print, see Jean-Richard1978, no. 403. A group of five red chalk figure studies in a similarly inspired Watteau-like style for the same project is in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, see R.J. A te Rijdt, in exhib. cat, Paris, Fondation Custodia, 'De Watteau à Ingres dessins français du XVIIIe siècle du Rijksmuseum Amsterdam', 2003, nos. 30-34, pp. 100-109. For discussion of Boucher's drawings in this series see Per Bjurström, 'Les illustrations de Boucher pour Molière', in "Idea and form. Studies in the history of art", Stockholm, 1959, pp. 138-152.
Lit.: P. Jean-Richard, 'L'oeuvre gravé de François Boucher dans la Collection Edmond de Rothschild', Paris, 1978, under no. 403, p. 129; Rosenberg-Prat, Watteau. Cat. raisonné des dessins, 1996, p.1206, no.R208
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1968, London, RA, 'French XVIIIc art', no. 84
1982 Apr-Jun, Metropolitan Museum, Tokyo, 'Boucher', no. 79
1982 Jul-Aug, Kumamoto Museum, 'Boucher', no. 79
- Associated titles
-
Associated Title: Le Dépit Amoureux
-
Associated Title: Oeuvres de Molière
- Acquisition date
- 1856
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1856,0712.30
