Jacques Villon

The older brother of Marcel Duchamp, Jacques Villon was a highly successful artist in his own right, earning the Légion d'Honneur the same year he executed this drawing. The grid-like application of ink seen in this sheet, which is signed and dated [19]39, occurs similarly in many of the artist's drawings from this period. Compare, for instance, "La grand baie du petit salon- L'athlète" (Galerie Schmit, Paris) of 1938, which has similar grid-like hatching. The romanesque church was likely one Villon saw during his three-month trip in Beaugency on the Loire during the year 1939.