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.

Minerva Seated on Clouds, Surrounded by Four Putti

Hubert François Gravelot
1699-1773

Minerva Seated on Clouds, Surrounded by Four Putti

ca. 1760
2 3/8 x 4 9/16 inches (60 x 117 mm)
Graphite and black chalk, on paper; incised with the stylus.
1963.13:21

Gift of John F. Fleming.

Notes
Gravelot's sketch is preliminary for an engraved head-piece vignette in Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville's "Notice de l'Ancienne Gaule" (Paris : 1760). Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville (1697-1782) was Gravelot's older brother and a well-known geographer; the artist designed several illustrations and maps for his brother's treatises, including this important volume. Minerva is shown seated on a cloud with a shield, surrounded by four putti. The engraving after the drawing by Noel Le Mire appears above a dedication to His Serene Highness, the Duc de Chartres, later Louis-Philippe, duc d'Orleans (1725-1785).
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. 9, no. 11.
Classification
Century Drawings
School
Department