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Jean-Baptiste Mallet
1759-1835
The Two Friends
Watercolor and gouache on paper.
7 7/8 x 5 5/8 inches (200 x 143 mm)
Purchased on the Gordon Ray Fund.
1990.21
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Notes:
This is the preparatory drawing (ultimately not used) commissioned by Pierre Didot around 1795 for his edition of the "Contes de la Fontaine". There is an anonymous etching, in reverse, which corresponds exactly with this sheet (see Carol Osborne, "Pierre Didot, the Elder, and French Book Illustration, 1789-1822", New York, Garland, 1985, fig. 129).
Inscription:
Signed at lower left on base of chair, "L. Mallet".
Provenance:
Galerie Cailleux, Paris.
Bibliography:
Denison, Cara D., with Stephanie Wiles and Ruth S. Kraemer. Fantasy and Reality : Drawings from the Sunny Crawford von Bülow Collection. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1995, no. 24, repr. in color.
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