Lot 79: Louis-Auguste Brun, called Brun de Versoix (Rolle 1758-1815 Versoix)

Study of four dogs and an eagle; and Study of seven dogs a hare and a goat the first signed 'L.a.Brun.' (lower centre) oil on canvas 15 x 18 in. (37.8 x 45.7 cm.); and 16 x 21 in. (40.6 x 53.4 cm.) a pair (2) PROVENANCE (Probably) Me Gustave Martin, Geneva. Anon. Sale, Sotheby's, Zurich, 27 November 1984, lots 9 and 10. LITERATURE A. de Herdt and L. de La Rochefoucauld, Louis-Auguste Brun, Geneva, 1986, p. 103, nos. 24-5, illustrated p. 40, as circa 1788. EXHIBITION Geneva, Mus‚e d'art et d'histoire, 1986, no. 25. NOTES The present works, although of slightly different proportions, should be regarded as a pair, and are described as such by de Herdt ( loc. cit.). This is further borne out by the fact that the falcon depicted on the first canvas and the hare on the second are found together (the former swooping on the latter) in Brun's La chasse au faucon of circa 1788. That work - one of the artist's chefs-d'oeuvre and an important example of Brun's admiration for the work of Philips Wouwerman - was described with enthusiasm by the critic Rigaud in 1876: 'J'ai vu de Brun plusieurs tableaux qui furent mis en vente aprŠs la sa mort; je fus particuliŠrement frapp‚ d'une "Chasse au faucon", au milieu d'une campagne br–l‚e par un soleil ardent. Tout amateur aurait ‚t‚ heureux d'avoir ce tableau dans son cabinet.'.