Lot 168: MERRY JOSEPH BLONDEL PARIS 1781 - 1853

STUDY OF TWO DRAPED MALE FIGURES

STUDY OF TWO DRAPED MALE FIGURES

measurements note
353 by 235mm; 13 7/8 by 9 1/4 in

signed with initial in black chalk, lower right: B

black chalk heightened with white chalk on brownish-yellow prepared paper

EXHIBITED

London, Heim Gallery, French Drawings: Neoclassicism, 1975, no. 6

NOTE

Blondel won the Prix de Rome in 1803, and lived in Italy between 1809 and 1812. An academic history painter, he received commissions for official decorations at the Louvre, Versailles, Fontainebleau, and the Paris Bourse. This drawing may be connected to Blondel's murals of Old and New Testament scenes in the Church of St. Thomas Aquinas, Paris. On the right-hand side of the painting from this cycle representing the Marriage of the Virgin there are two draped male figures, one of whom is hooded; although these figures do not correspond directly with our drawing, their dress and pose are notably similar.