Watermark: fleur-de-lis (Cf. Heawood 1517).
This sheet is one of a series of six large portrait drawings done in 1743 by Van Loo, three of which depict men, and three, women, whose identities remain elusive. The Library also has in its collection a second portrait from this series, depicting a man (Acc. No. 1971.11).
This is one of a series of large portrait drawings by van Loo, all of which are signed and dated 1743. The woman, who has not been identified, sits stiffly in a straight-back chair in a salon densely hung with framed pictures. Perhaps unaccustomed to direct scrutiny, she toys nervously with the handkerchief in her lap, but her demeanor is enlivened by the faintest twinkle of the eye. -- Exhibition Label, from “Life Lines: Portrait Drawings from Dürer to Picasso.”
Signed and dated at lower left, in pen and brown ink, "Carle Vanloo 1743".
Masson, Jean, former owner.
Meyer, André, former owner.
Ryskamp, Charles, ed. Twentieth Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library, 1981-1983. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1984, p. 272-273.
Denison, Cara D. French Drawings, 1550-1825. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1984, no. 55.
Denison, Cara D. French Master Drawings in the Pierpont Morgan Library. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1993, no. 57, repr.
Denison, Cara D., with Stephanie Wiles and Ruth S. Kraemer. Fantasy and Reality : Drawings from the Sunny Crawford von Bülow Collection. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1995, no. 8, repr. in color.