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.

St. Louis Pardoning Five Saracens

Hubert François Gravelot
1699-1773

St. Louis Pardoning Five Saracens

ca. 1757
3 15/16 x 6 5/8 inches (100 x 168 mm)
Pen and black ink over graphite, on paper; incised with the stylus.
1963.13:5

Gift of John F. Fleming.

Notes
Gravelot's study is preparatory for a 1757 engraving by Noel Lemire that illustrates Jean de Joinville's "Histoire de Saint Louis" (Paris : 1761, p. 154). St. Louis is depicted seated with the five “Saracens” (a Christian term for Arab Muslims) kneeling around him at his feet. The Morgan preserves a second design by Gravelot, also engraved by Lemire, for this publication (Acc. No. 1963.13:6). Gravelot used a piece of paper bearing a fragmented draft of a letter along the left edge, beginning, "... prens la liberte de presenter mes respects ... Mr G. cette occasion bien voulu ... [etc.]".
Associated names
Fourquevaux, Joseph de Beccarie de Pavie, marquis de, 1762-1841, former owner.
Bocher, Emmanuel, 1835-1919, former owner.
Olry-Roederer, Léon, 1869-1932, former owner.
Rosenbach, A. S. W. (Abraham Simon Wolf), 1876-1952, former owner.
Fleming, John F. (John Francis), 1910-1987, former owner.
Bibliography
Kraemer, Ruth S. "Drawings by Gravelot in the Morgan Library." Master drawings, XX (Spring 1982), p. 8, no. 7, reproduced plate 4.
Classification
Century Drawings
School
Department