Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Portrait of the Artist's Wife

François Hubert Drouais
1727-1775

Portrait of the Artist's Wife

13 1/2 x 9 3/4 inches (343 x 248 mm)
Black and red chalk, with yellow and white chalk, with stumping and red chalk worked wet, on laid paper.
1967.3

Purchase as the gift of the Fellows, with the assistance of Anne and Carl Stern.

Notes
Drouais specialized in portraits of French nobility. His career was launched in 1756, when he was summoned to Versailles to paint a double portrait of the infant grandchildren of Louis xv, two future kings. This moving portrait of the artist's wife, Anne-Francoise (1732-1815), captures her winsome, fresh countenance and open gaze. In the same year, Drouais also painted a more formal portrait of Anne-Francoise, now at the Louvre. -- Exhibition Label, from "Life Lines: Portrait Drawings from Dürer to Picasso."
Inscriptions/Markings
Watermark: Letter "L" surmounted by crown, over "1742", placed between chain lines.
Associated names
Chaikin, Nathan, former owner.
Stern, Anne Bigelow, donor.
Stern, Carl, donor.
Bibliography
Adams, Frederick B., Jr., ed. Fifteenth Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library, 1967 & 1968. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1969, p. 119-120., repr. opp. p. 120.
A review of acquisitions, 1949-1968 / Pierpont Morgan Library. New York : The Library, 1969, p. 142.
Denison, Cara D. French Drawings, 1550-1825. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1984, no. 68.
Denison, Cara D. French Master Drawings in the Pierpont Morgan Library. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1993, no. 67, repr.
Classification
Century Drawings
School
Department