Jean-Baptiste Greuze

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1725-1805

Head of a Young Man

Red chalk on paper.

15 x 12 3/16 inches (382 x 310 mm)

Purchased by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1909.

I, 286

Notes:

Greuze made more than one version of this study which, while related to his painting of 1777, "The Return of the Prodigal Son", now in the collection of The Hermitage in St. Petersburg, is not really preparatory for it, but rather a "tête d'expression", a study intended to represent a particular emotional condition.

Inscription:

Inscribed in pencil at lower right, "Greuze".

Provenance:

Charles Fairfax Murray (1849-1919), London and Florence; from whom purchased through Galerie Alexandre Imbert, Rome, in 1909 by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), New York (no mark; see Lugt 1509); his son, J. P. Morgan, Jr. (1867-1943), New York.

Associated names:

Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.

Bibliography:

Collection J. Pierpont Morgan : Drawings by the Old Masters Formed by C. Fairfax Murray. London : Privately printed, 1905-1912, I, 286, repr.
Denison, Cara D. French Drawings, 1550-1825. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1984, no. 66.
Denison, Cara D. French Master Drawings in the Pierpont Morgan Library. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1993, no. 66, repr.

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Greuze, Jean-Baptiste

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