Lot Essay
The present painting relates to Prud'hon's unfinished Venus at the bath (Louvre, Paris), and was until recently known to scholars only through Gigoux's engraving. That in turn must have been based on a now-lost drawing, as it exhibits minor differences in both the figures and landscape. A study in black and white chalk on blue paper for the figure of the nude woman is in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris.