François LE MOYNE (Paris 1688 - 1737)
Head of a bearded man
Black stone and white highlights on beige paper 10.5 x 10 cm
Bibliography:
- J-L. Bordeaux, François Le Moyne ansd his generation: 1688 - 1737, Neuilly sur Seine, 1985, n° D16, reproduced fi g. 143)
Note:
Jean-Luc Bordeaux dates our drawing to around 1717 and links it to a group of similar studies characteristic of the artist's early years. These heads were then reused in Le Moyne's religious paintings, when he worked for the Cordeliers in Amiens between 1717 and 1720.
Our study can be compared to the heads of the Apostles in the painting The Mission of the Twelve Apostles, dated 1717, kept in Sens Cathedral (see op. cit.
supra, no. P. 8, reproduced in f.g.7)
