Jean-Baptiste Le Prince

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Jean-Baptiste Le Prince
1734-1781
Allégorie de l'eau
1769
Watercolor and gouache on paper.
15 3/4 x 10 15/16 inches (400 x 278 mm)
Purchased on the Charles Ryskamp Fund.
1996.72
Notes: 

This watercolor is a study for a large decorative panel, executed in oil on canvas, which is dated 1767 and is now in a private collection, New York. This painting and its pendant, "Allégorie de l'air" of 1770, were featured in the sale of Mrs. Hubert W. Chanler (London, Sotheby's, 10 June 1959, lot 34). Based on their size and elaborated design, these large panels may have been intended as tapestry cartoons.

Provenance: 
Léon Decloux, Paris; his sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 14-15 February 1898, lot 91, repr.; Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York.
Associated names: 

Decloux, Léon, former owner.

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