Lot 124: Louis Hersent (Paris 1777-1860)

Daphnis pulling a thorn from Chloë's foot by a river
signed 'lh'
pen and brown ink, oil on paper
9 1/4 x 6 3/8 in. (234 x 161 mm.)

Related to the picture of Daphnis et Chloë exhibited by Hersent at the Salon of 1817 and formerly owned by Casimir Perrier, and auctioned in Versailles, 4 April 1993, lot 90 (A.M. de Brem, Louis Hersent, exhib. cat., Musée de la Vie Romantique, 1993, no. 32). A smaller version was sold at Sotheby's, New York, 10 November 1998, lot 98.
This and the Sotheby's picture correspond to those mentioned by Hersent in his will: 'Je donne à ma chère nièce Mme Bayvet mon petit tableau de Daphnis et Chloë' and 'Je donne à mon neveu Eugène Onfroy mon petit tableau de Daphnis & Chloë' (A.M. de Brem, op. cit., p. 158). The composition was engraved by five different artists.