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.

Putto Reaching for Grapes, with a Goat, Tambourine, and a Marotte

Hubert François Gravelot
1699-1773

Putto Reaching for Grapes, with a Goat, Tambourine, and a Marotte

4 x 2 15/16 inches (102 x 74 mm)
Black and white chalk, pen and brown ink and wash, on paper; incised with the stylus.
1968.15:6

Gift of John F. Fleming.

Notes
Gravelot's oddly-shaped design with a drunken putto was probably intended to serve as an illustration although no publication has been identified. The putto, who discards his marotte and tambourine in order to grab grapes, prompted Kraemer to posit that it might be an Allegory of Folly and a companion to 1968.15:8 representing an Allegory of Wisdom. 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. 47.
Classification
Century Drawings
School
Department