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.

Seated Putto Holding a Torch, with a Shield, and Owl

Hubert François Gravelot
1699-1773

Seated Putto Holding a Torch, with a Shield, and Owl

3 7/8 x 2 15/16 inches (99 x 75 mm)
Black chalk touched with white, pen and brown ink border, on paper; incised with the stylus.
1968.15:8

Gift of John F. Fleming.

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.”
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.
Classification
Century Drawings
School
Department