Hubert François Gravelot

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Hubert François Gravelot
1699-1773
Death of La Trémoille and Dorothée II
ca. 1762
Pen and black ink and black chalk, on paper.
5 3/16 x 3 1/16 inches (131 x 78 mm)
Gift of John F. Fleming.
1968.15:35
Notes: 

Gravelot's design is preparatory for an engraved frontispiece to Chant XVIII of Voltaire's “La Pucelle d'Orléans” (Genève : Cramer, 1762; facing p. 311). The scene shows the death of La Trémoille and Dorothée, with the distressed young knight standing beside the dead body of Dorothée and throwing himself on his sword, while a second knight stands watching aghast on the left; a chapel appears in the left background. The trees are traced onto the sheet from possibly another preliminary sketch. See also 1968.15:28, 1968.15:34, and 1968.15:36 for additional preparatory drawings by Gravelot for the same publication.

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. 9, no. 15, reproduced plate 7b.

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