Lot 245: * JACQUES-HENRI SABLET MORGES 1749-1803 PARIS

18 3/4 in. by 14 in.; 47.6 by 35.5 cm.

oil on paper, laid down on canvas

We are grateful to Anne van de Sandt who, based on photographs, confirms the present painting to be a sketch for the Death of Pallas for which Jacques Sablet received a first prize in the Concours de Parme on June 8, 1778.

The Concours de Parme was created in 1752 and like the Prix de Rome, took its themes from history and mythology. The subject of the present painting, for example, is taken from Virgil's epic poem, The Aeneid, Book X: 495-449. The Concours was open to all artists, however, most of the participants were students at the Académie de Saint Luc and the Académie de France in Rome. The present sketch is related to another sketch, formerly with Galerie Cailleux (see Les Etapes de la Création Esquisses et Dessins de Boucher à Isabey, exhibition catalogue, Galerie Cailleux, Paris, June 12-July 13, 1989, cat. no. 52, illustrated).