[1] Luke, chapter 16, verses 1 to 9.]" The latter sent for his master’s various debtors and reduced their debts in order to be received in their homes when he was dismissed. The conclusion of this parable is unexpected, since the master praised the unfaithful manager for his prudence. Perhaps this is the story that Jordaens drew with his characteristic theatricality (ill. 1). Or is it the parable of the unjust judge? A woman persisted in demanding justice from a judge who did not care, but who finally listened to her. He said to her, "Because this widow bothers me, I will give her justice, so that she will not come and break my head again and again. " This unpublished sheet is probably an independent drawing. It will be auctioned by Christie’s on 22 March.
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- 1. Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678)
The Unfaithful Manager Facing His Master’s Debtors (?)
Black chalk, red chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash and red wash, heightened with white - 24.4 x 25.7 cm
Christie’s Paris sale, 22 March 2023
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Another 17th-century Fleming, and not the least, in this sale of graphic arts: Rubens himself is the author of a sketch probably preparatory to a painting, although the latter is not identified (ill. 2). This black chalk drawing is primarily a drapery study, but the artist, who worked from a live model, also translated the figure’s pensive face, and with few means obtained an expressive and powerful figure. Monumental studies by Rubens are relatively rare on the market. As Hélène Rihal, director of the Old Master and 19th Century Drawings Department, points out, this one can be compared to the drawing of a kneeling woman in the Albertina, a model for a shepherdess in Rouen’s The Adoration of the Shepherds.
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- 2. Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)
Study of a Kneeling Man Seen in Profile
Black chalk, heightened with white on vellum - 40.6 x 29.1 cm
Christie’s Paris sale, 22 March 2023
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This work was part of the collection of Joannes De Clercq. Four other sheets from his collection are offered for sale, attributed to artists in Rembrandt’s circle. Joannes De Clercq had the misfortune to die at the age of twenty-five, so that he is often overlooked among the collectors of nineteenth-century Dutch drawings such as Jacob De Vos Jacobsz, Jacobus Willem Wurfbain and Pieter Langerhuizen. He did, however, have the time to put together an important collection, and owned another Rubens, a study for The Erection of the Cross in Antwerp Cathedral.
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- 3. Charles-Joseph Natoire (1700-1777)
Study for the Full-Length Portrait of the Dauphin Louis (1729-1765)
Black chalk, white chalk, brush, grey wash - 40.8 x 28.7 cm
Christie’s Paris sale, 22 March 2023
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The artists themselves could be avid collectors: the sculptor Carlo Marochetti thus collected engravings, which were offered for sale after his death, as well as drawings that can be seen hanging above his fireplace in a watercolour by John Ballantyne that depicted him in his home. Christie’s offers French 18th century sheets that belonged to him, a sanguine by François Boucher and four studies by Charles-Joseph Natoire, which have remained in the artist’s estate until today. One drawing by Natoire in particular is directly related to the painted portrait of the Dauphin that was commissioned for his new bedroom in Versailles in 1746 and is still in the château (ill. 3). Natoire was inspired by a pastel by Maurice Quentin de La Tour for this composition. Another preparatory sheet for the painting is in the Musée Borély in Marseille, a third in Montpellier at the Musée Atger.
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- 4. Charles de Wailly (1730-1798)
An Architectural Caprice with a Salomonic Column, a Coffered Ceiling and the Statue of a General, 1756
Graphite, black chalk, pen and black ink,
brown and grey wash, heightened with white - 48.6 x 36.6 cm
Christie’s Paris sale, 22 March 2023
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In 1751, Charles-Joseph Natoire was appointed director of the French Academy in Rome. Charles de Wailly undoubtedly came across him during the trip he undertook to Italy between 1754 and 1757. The architect was dazzled by St. Peter’s Basilica and by Bernini’s baldachin, which he designed several times. A seductive sheet, presented as an architectural caprice, shows the baldachin da sotto in su, with a dizzying perspective (ill. 4).
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- 5. School of Fontainebleau
The Drowning of Britomartis
Pen and brown ink, brown wash, graphite setting - 43.5 x 31.5 cm
Christie’s Paris sale, 22 March 2023
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Vertiginous also was the fall of the nymph Britomartis, who threw herself into the sea from the top of a cliff to escape the assaults of Minos; she was caught in the nets of fishermen and rescued by Artemis. The subject of the drawing attributed to the Fontainebleau school (ill. 5) is taken from the History of Diana, a tapestry commissioned by Henry II for Diana of Poitiers, woven in the 1550s and destined for the château of Anet. Two tapestries from this series were acquired by Écouen in 2007 (see the news item of 31/8/07). The one illustrating the story of Britomartis is in the Metropolitan Museum. Three other drawings related to this hanging are in the Louvre; slightly different in style and technique, they are now attributed to Charles Carmoy. Étienne Delaune also made a series of engravings around 1547-1548 on the theme of the story of Diana, one of which illustrates the Britomartis episode; the compositions, however, show some differences with those of the drawings and tapestries.
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- 6. Pietro Testa (1612-1650)
The Battle of the Four Elements (recto)
Black chalk, pen and brown ink on blue paper 24 x 29.4 cm
Christie’s Paris sale, 22 March 2023
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Among the Olympian gods, Vulcan with his hammer embodies fire, Juno accompanied by her peacock symbolises air, Cybele with her crenellated crown is earth, while a river god evokes water. All four of them are fighting hard, and this battle of the elements is depicted by Pietro Testa on a sheet from the collection of Pierre Crozat (ill. 6). The group appears to the right of a print illustrating the Allegy of Summer, part of the cycle of seasons that Testa conceived around 1642-1644. Two other drawings related to this print are known, one in the Morgan Library and Museum in New York and the other in the Teylers Museum in Haarlem.
Other fights in this sale include Marsyas striving to break his bonds, drawn after a sculpture by Pierre Legros II, and Daumier’s Lutteurs, as well as Distribution of the eagles to the leaders of the armies, by Baron Gérard.
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- 7. Nicolas de Plattemontagne (1631-1706)
Study for the Figure of King Balthazar and subsidiary studies of the Hands
black chalk, red chalk, white chalk, on beige paper - 40.5 x 28.3 cm
Christie’s Paris sale, 22 March 2023
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As is often the case in such sales, works by François Boucher and Hubert Robert will be found, but French 17th century drawings are rarer and no doubt the unpublished sheet by Nicolas de Plattemontagne will whet the appetites of curators, especially as it represents the magician Balthazar (ill. 7), and we know that museums are keen to complete their collections with representations of black men (and works by women). This one, preparatory to a Adoration of the Magi kept at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Quimper, is attractive because of its variations of hands, which give it a Shiva-like appearance.
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- 8. Antoine-Ignace Melling (1763-1831)
Procession in Honour of a Turkish Wedding
Graphite, watercolour and gouache,
heightened with gum arabic - 42.2 x 81.4 cm
Christie’s sale 22 March 2023
Christie’s Paris Sale, 22 March 2023
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In the course of the batches, we also move from the Orient to Normandy and from the procession of a Turkish wedding by Melling to the deployment of a herd in the pastures, not far from the farm of Lieu-Bailly by Millet (ill. 8 and 9). Antoine-Ignace Melling travelled to Constantinople in 1784. He designed the garden of the Danish diplomat Baron Frederic de Hübsch in his residence of Buyuk-Déré, which was admired by Hadidgé, or Hatice, sister of the Ottoman Sultan Selim III. The artist was then appointed imperial architect in 1795 and put in charge of the gardens of the Ortaköy Palace. He also composed a series of large watercolours illustrating Turkish daily life. One of them depicts a wedding procession, in which a man holds up a stick with golden threads, which represent sheaves of wheat, symbolising the abundance that is wished to the future couple. Tall men carry flowers in vases on trays. Behind them walks a jester, then a man clutching a sheep, destined to be offered as a sacrifice, its parts distributed to the poor. Then comes the bride’s closed chariot. The composition was engraved and published in 1809 in the famous Voyage pittoresque de Constantinople et des rives du Bosphore. The landscape in the background was the subject of a preparatory graphite drawing in a private collection. This watercolour belonged to the Baron and Baroness Fould Springer, and later to Auguste Boppe, embassy counsellor in Constantinople, to whom we owe the reference work on The Painters of the Bosphorus in the 18th century. It has remained in the family to this day.
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- 9. Jean-François Millet (1814-1875)
Rural Landscape with Cow and Sheep: the Farm of Lieu-Bailly
Charcoal, pastel and traces of watercolour on beige paper - 39.5 x 52 cm
Christie’s Paris sale, 22 March 2023
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In his later years, Millet depicted rural landscapes devoid of human presence, particularly when he stayed in Normandy during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, as evidenced by the pastel now on sale, all in shades of green and brown. A preparatory drawing for this composition is in the Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart.
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- 10. Gustave Doré (1832-1883)
The Raven and Death
graphite, brush, brown wash, heightened with white - 52.2 x 35.5 cm
Christie’s Paris sale, 22 March 2023
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Finally, we pass from a fantastic raven to a symbolist sphinx and from Gustave Doré to Fernand Khnopff (ill. 10 and 11). Doré illustrated Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven, composing twenty-four xylographic plates for the 1883 edition. The artist died the same year and so his project was never completed. The story features a writer in mourning for the woman he loved. "Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.[[Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven, 1845
