84 - Jean-Michel Moreau, known as Moreau the Younger (1741–1814)

Jean-Michel Moreau, known as Moreau the Younger (1741–1814) Sleeping Philosophy (Madame Greuze). 1777. Etching after Greuze. 341 x 475 [394 x 532 mm]. Bocher 251. A very fine print on laid paper, from the first state (of 4), in pure etching, with the bodice still buttoned, prior to Aliamet’s retouching with a burin and before any lettering was added. Small pencil inscription beneath the square line on the right. Scattered light foxing spots. Slight crease marks in the corners (the print having been historically re-mounted along the edge of the block). A small surface tear at the right edge of the copper plate. Good margins. Formerly in the collection of John Postle Heseltine (Lugt 1508); Defer-Dumesnil (Lugt 739). AABM stamp (Lugt 3075). Our proof corresponds to the one held by the Petit Palais, Paris (formerly the Dutuit Collection), which is also a pre-letter version. In the proofs of the published edition, which include the letter, the bodice is open. "Moreau the Younger’s etching reverses a Greuze drawing that corresponds to this print in every major detail. The model was Greuze’s wife, the beautiful Anne-Gabrielle Babuti, as identified by a handwritten note on a proof of the Moreau the Younger etching in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. [...] Emmanuel Bocher lists four states of this work in his nineteenth-century catalog of Moreau the Younger’s work, the last three of which were completed with the addition of engraving by Aliamet. Evidently, he was unaware of this earlier version of the etching, in which Mrs. Greuze’s blouse is completely buttoned, as it is in the drawing. In the states he describes, the blouse is half-open. The finished print was first announced for sale in the *Mercure de France* in January 1777 and dedicated to Mrs. Greuze by Aliamet. " (V. Carlson, in V. I. Carlson and J. W. Ittmann, eds., *Regency to Empire: French Printmaking 1715–1814*, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1984, p. 218). Anne-Gabrielle Babuti (1732–1811) was the daughter of François Babuti, a wealthy Parisian bookseller based on Rue Saint-Jacques (or Quai des Augustins). She grew up in the world of the book trade. Renowned for her great beauty, her fresh complexion, and her delicate features, she caught the eye of the young Jean-Baptiste Greuze during a chance visit by the latter to her father’s bookstore. The wedding took place on February 3, 1759. During the idyllic early years of their marriage, which produced three daughters, Anne-Gabrielle became the painter’s undisputed muse. He painted numerous portraits of her, capturing every facet of domestic intimacy and the expression of emotions (notably *Sleeping Philosophy*, *Voluptuousness*, and *Madame Greuze*). Endowed with a keen business sense inherited from her father, she took charge of the financial management of her husband’s career. She was particularly involved in the highly lucrative distribution of engravings based on Greuze’s works, which formed the family’s initial fortune. Over the years, their relationship deteriorated significantly and led to violent domestic disputes, which were commented on by their contemporaries, such as Denis Diderot. Greuze accused his wife of embezzling large sums of money from the sale of the engravings for her own benefit. She is even said to have torn up the accounting ledgers to prevent any audit. Greuze also publicly accused his wife of “[committing] adultery to the point of brazenness, and cynicism to the point of an insolence that nothing can convey.” The couple separated in 1785, and the marriage ended in divorce on August 4, 1793, thanks to new laws enacted during the Revolution, which the artist’s wife invoked. The ironic tone of the engraving becomes clearer here, as Madame Greuze is meant to represent philosophical virtue or the sleeping scholar, her hand resting in front of a globe and volumes by Newton, Epicurus, and Plato, while the little pug on her lap (a symbol of fidelity) is awake.