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.

Laissez faire mon fils II

Hubert François Gravelot
1699-1773

Laissez faire mon fils II

ca. 1767
5 5/8 x 3 5/16 inches (144 x 85 mm)
Pen and black ink over graphite, on paper; incised with the stylus.
1968.15:27

Gift of John F. Fleming.

Notes
Gravelot's drawing is preparatory for an engraved frontispiece to Act IV of Beaumarchais' five-act play “Eugénie” (Paris : Merlin, 1767). This study depicts a less developed stage of Gravelot's composition than 1968.15:26. The title is inscribed twice at the bottom, indicating the artist's intention of extending the foot of the design. Several figures are shown gathered in a room; at center a gentleman armed with a sword rushes towards a man standing at left, as two other men attempt to intercede. The engraving after the drawing was executed by Jean Charles Le Vasseur (1734-1816).
Inscriptions/Markings
Drawing captioned "Laissez faire mon fils" and signed at bottom "H. Gravelot inven."
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. 10, no. 22, reproduced plate 9a.
Classification
Century Drawings
School
Department