Exhibitions in Parisian galleries (4)

28/3/25 - Art market - Paris - By François Boucher, we do not see the voluptuousness of a pink and plump female body lying on a sheet, but a man and a woman traced in black chalk; they stand out from a crowd, leaning on each other’s elbows, chatting; she points to an object in his hand that resembles a hook (ill. 1).

1. François Boucher (1703-1770)
A Man and a Woman in Conversation, Leaning on a Balustrade
Black chalk and white chalk - 24 x 27.5 cm
Galerie Marty de Cambiaire
Photo: Galerie Marty de Cambiaire

See the image in its page

This drawing, which dates from the artist’s mature period, raises several questions, as neither its subject nor its function have been identified. Is it a preparatory study for a painting? Apparently not, even if these figures are not without evoking the bustling market scenes painted by the artist, in which we find the same type of woman wearing a drapery. Perhaps it is a fragmentary study that was not used? Or was it, as Alastair Laing suggests, a drawing intended to serve as a model for the painter’s students? Among them, Jean-Baptiste Deshays - who became Boucher’s son-in-law - drew inspiration from him for his tapestry cartoons. But the master, at the end of his career, allowed himself to be influenced by his students, and the figures in the background of this drawing are reminiscent of Deshays’ style.
This drawing is on display at the Emmanuel and Laurie Marty gallery, who have abandoned the Salon du dessin in favour of the New York market, which is marked by Master Drawings in February. But the gallery has not, of course, given up on Paris: it exhibits an anthology of sheets that reveal the masters’ way of working in its premises on Place Vendôme.

2. Hubert Robert (1733-1808)
Washerwomen around a Well and the Ruins of an Amphitheatre
Red chalk, pen, brush and brown ink, grey wash and white highlights - 35.7 x 48.1 cm
Galerie Marty de Cambiaire
Photo: Galerie Marty de Cambiaire

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