Hubert François Gravelot

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Hubert François Gravelot
1699-1773
Uranka, Agénie, and Okimas II
ca. 1770-73
Pen and black ink and black chalk, on paper; incised with the stylus.
5 3/8 x 3 3/8 inches (136 x 85 mm)
Gift of John F. Fleming.
1963.13:12
Notes: 

Gravelot's design is preparatory for an illustration to Fenouillot de Falbaire de Quingey's tragedy "Les Jammabos, ou, Les Moines Japonais," as published in his "Oeuvres" (Paris : Veuve Duchesne, 1787). It may have been intended to illustrate Act III, Scene VI, but evidently was never used. The monk Uranka is shown confronting Okimas, who is accompanied by the princess Agénie and a third figure. According to Kraemer, this drawing and 1963.13:11 “show two different stages in the artist's working process; there are only three figures in the group at right on one of the drawings [1963.13:11] but four on the second [this one]; the latter, however, represents an earlier stage.” For the other six preparatory drawings related to Quingey's "Les Jammabos" see also 1963.13.11, 1963.13:13, 1963.13:14, 1963.13:15, 1963.13:16, and 1968.15:21. As Kraemer noted, “Only two of Gravelot's designs were engraved and appeared in the 1787 two-volume edition of the author's complete works. Although published fourteen years after his death, Gravelot may have worked on these drawings during the last years of his life.”

Inscription: 

Signed in pen and black ink at lower right, "H. Gravelot inven."

Provenance: 
Marie-Joseph-Colombe-Henri-Denis Beccaria de Pavie, Marquis de Fourquevaux (1762-1841), Fourquevaux, France; Emmanuel Bocher (1835-1919), Paris; Léon Olry-Roederer (1869-1932), Paris; A.S.W. Rosenbach (1876-1952), Philadelphia; John Fleming (1910-1987), New York.
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. 13, no. 43.

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