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A first Boilly for the Musée de l’Armée
9/4/24 - Acquisition - Paris, Musée de l’Armée - This is an atypical drawing for Boilly, who rarely painted military subjects, but it is also a reminder that the artist was rather discreet from the start of the French Revolution, during which his traditional clientele disappeared and his gallant subjects quickly became suspect. It is also - and above all - his first work (ill. 1) to be included in the collections of the Musée de l’Armée, which is as interested in the victims as it is in the actors of the conflicts whose story logically serves as the backdrop to the expanded and enriched tour of the Hôtel des Invalides. The sheet was not unknown to specialists, and had also been lent by its owner, Marie Lucie Bisiaux, to the memorable exhibition held at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in…