Updated 2015-04-29
This engraving ca. 1780 (by Jacques-Firmin Beauvarlet Abbeville 1731-Paris 1797?) is
made after a painting by the French painter François-Hubert Drouais
(1727-1775), or Drouais le fils, entitled "The children of the Comte Béthune
playing with a dog". The original painting is (or was) in the possession
of Mrs. Eugenia W. Ryan, New York. The painting may be identical with the one
mentioned in Guitares Chefs-d'oeuvre des collections de France, Paris 1980 p.
where it is said : "Better still, as early as 1761 Drouais (1727-1775) had
painted the two sons of the Duke of Bouillon, dressed as mountaineers; the
elder has an elegant guitar and holds his dog's paw to make him strum the
instrument." Drouais also portrayed Mme Clotilde, princesse de Piedmont
playing the guitar (Musée de Versailles). The engraving is reversed, but this
has been corrected here.
More information
about Drouais can be found in the National Gallery of Art, Washington. Another
painting by Drouais can be found in the Louvre. I'm most grateful to Rudolf
Henning, Württembergische Landesbibliothek, Stuttgart, who supplied me with
this information.
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© Kenneth Sparr |
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