Lot 59: JEAN-BAPTISTE MALLET

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, CONNECTICUT GRASSE 1759 - 1835 PARIS THE LOVE LETTER pen, brown ink and watercolor on paper 12 3/8 by 9 in.; 32.4 by 22.9 cm.

London, Batsford Gallery, Two Centuries of French taste, 20 January - 20 February 1932, no. 31.

Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 10 April 1985, lot 120; Anonymous sale, New York, Christie's, 28 January 1999, lot 162.

Mallet was a pupil of Pierre-Paul Prud’hon in Paris and a regular Salon exhibitor between 1793 and 1827. He established his reputation with gouache genre scenes, such as this lot and the following two, depicting fashionable figures in elegant interiors or park settings. Mallet also worked in oil, often in a style reflecting his awareness of Dutch 17th century interiors, such as La Visite à la convalescente in the Musée Cognacq-Jay, Paris.