LOUIS-CLAUDE VASSÉ (PARIS 1716-1772)

Lot 51
20.03.2024 15:00UTC +01:00
Classic
Starting price
€ 15 000
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationFrance, Paris
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Archive
ID 1172927
Lot 51 | LOUIS-CLAUDE VASSÉ (PARIS 1716-1772)
Estimate value
€ 15 000 – 25 000
LOUIS-CLAUDE VASSÉ (PARIS 1716-1772)

Projet pour le monument funéraire de Paul-Esprit Feydeau de Brou

pierre noire, sanguine, dans un montage du XVIIIe siècle

17 3⁄8 x 9 ¾ in. (44 x 24.5 cm)





Further details

LOUIS-CLAUDE VASSÉ, DESIGN FOR THE TOMB OF PAUL-ESPRIT FEYDEAU DE BROU, BLACK AND RED CHALK

This outstanding example of Vassé’s draughtsmanship is related to one of his most admired commissions, the tomb of the garde de sceaux Paul-Esprit Feydeau de Brou (1682-1767), made for the church of Saint-Merri, Paris. Dismembered during the French Revolution, the two main elements of the monument – a pleureuse and a portrait medallion – are now reunited at the Musée du Louvre (fig. 1; inv. LP 454, LP 563; see J.-R. Gaborit, ed., Sculpture française, II, Renaissance et temps modernes, Paris, 1998, p. 607, ill.; and J. Coural, ‘Note sur le tombeau de Paul-Esprit Feydeau de Brou par Louis-Claude Vassé’, Revue de l’art, nos. 40-41, 1978, pp. 203-208).

Originally thought to relate to the tomb of the sculptor’s main patron, the Comte de Caylus, the elegenat young woman is the main subject of the unpublished drawing presented here, which illustrates well Vassé’s refined drawing style, rooted in the education he received from Edme Bouchardon. The figure corresponds to large extent to the surviving marble, but completes it in several details, such as the urns on the socle against which she leans, and the coat of arms at its base. Moreover, in its lower half, the drawing gives a general idea of the monument’s own socle, to which the sculpted portrait of Feydeau de Brou would have been attached. These same elements can be found in a drawing now at the Musée Carnavalet, Paris (fig. 2; inv. D.13210; previously in the sale at Drouot Montaigne, Paris, 17 March 1989, lot 13), which lacks, however, the subtle execution of the drawing presented here and may be a ricordo, rather than a design. This appears also to be the case with a drawing of a different tomb in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (inv. RP-T-1949-523; see R.J.A. te Rijdt, De Watteau à Ingres. Dessins français du XVIIIe siècle du Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, exhib. cat., Amsterdam, Rijksprentenkabinet, Rijksmuseum, and Paris, Institut Néerlandais, 2002-2003, no. 57, ill.).
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