Hubert François Gravelot

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Hubert François Gravelot
1699-1773
Seated Putto Holding a Torch, with a Shield, and Owl
Black chalk touched with white, pen and brown ink border, on paper; incised with the stylus.
3 7/8 x 2 15/16 inches (99 x 75 mm)
Gift of John F. Fleming.
1968.15:8
Notes: 

Gravelot's oddly-shaped design was probably intended to serve as an illustration although no publication has been identified. The putto brandishing a torch and clasping a shield bearing a satyr's head prompted Kraemer to posit, “Perhaps the drawing is an Allegory of Wisdom and forms a pair with...[1968.15:6] symbolizing Folly.” Kraemer further noted that “The notation in an old hand on the folder in which these four drawings [1968.15:5-8] were acquired, interprets them as 'Pendentifs. Enfants. Statues. La peinture. Le drame. La comedie.' The collector, probably Roederer, must have thought of architectural or sculptural decoration because of the curving lines in pen and brown ink which frame the designs on both sides.”

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. 49.

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