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 Mirror

Hubert François Gravelot
1699-1773

Seated Putto Holding a Mirror

4 3/8 x 3 7/16 inches (111 x 88 mm)
Black and white chalk, pen and brown ink, on paper; incised with the stylus.
1968.15:7

Gift of John F. Fleming.

Notes
Gravelot's oddly-shaped design with a putto holding a mirror, drawn with extensive pentimenti that make his actions hard to decipher, was probably intended to serve as an illustration although no publication has been identified. Kraemer 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. 48.
Classification
Century Drawings
School
Department