Lot 121: A seated woman, her left arm raised

Louis Galloche (1670-1761 Paris) A seated woman, her left arm raised black, white and red chalk 15 7/8 x 20¼ in. (405 x 516 mm.)

Duvivier family, with their numbering '345'.
Anonymous sale; Hôtel Drouot, 29 October 1987, part of lot 62 (as Circle of Coypel).
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, New York, 26 January 2000, lot 183.

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 17.5% on the buyer's premium.
This masterful study is a typical example of Galloche's graphic work. The head and the hands are only quickly sketched but the draperies are studied with meticulous detail and great sensitivity. The artist is subtly using the stumping and the delicate network of short hatching to give the fabric a rich variation of tone and texture while the white chalk helps to define the volumes.
A sketchier drawing of the same figure, with a scroll beside her, and also from the Duvivier family, was sold at Christie's, 4 July 1989, lot 121. Both drawings may be preparatory to the figure of Diana in the Race of Hypomene and Atalanta, a painting now in a private collection.