Augustin Pajou (Paris 1730-1809)

Pyrrhus in the house of Glaucias

Details

Augustin Pajou (Paris 1730-1809)
Pyrrhus in the house of Glaucias
signed 'PAJOU INVENIT' and inscribed 'PYRRHUS. PRESENTÉ A GLAUVCIAS ROY DESCLAVONIE. Plutarqu'
black chalk, pen and grey ink, grey wash on two joined sheets
22¼ x 31¼ in. (56.7 x 79.5 cm.)

Provenance

Jean-Baptiste II Lemoyne; Paris, 10 August 1778, lot 66 ('M.Pajou. Un superbe dessin fait à Rome, représentant Pyrrhus présenté à Glaucias, Roi d'Esclavonie').
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, New York, 21 January 2003, lot 109.

Literature

Acquisitions du cabinet des dessins 1973-1983, exh. cat., Paris, Louvre, 1984, under no. 91.
J.D. Draper and G. Scherf, Pajou, Sculpteur de Roi..., exh. cat., Paris and New York, 1998, pp. 54-6, under no. 19 (as location unknown).

Exhibited

Paris, Salon, 1759, no. 142.

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Lot Essay

This drawing, along with Diomedes attacked by the Trojans (Paris, Louvre, inv. RF 40437) were shown at the Salon of 1759, the first in which Pajou's works were exhibited upon his return from Rome after winning the Grand Prix. Both drawings were also formerly in the collection of the sculptor Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne (1704-1778) who was Pajou's teacher. Also at the Louvre is a study for the figure of King Glaucias in brown wash (inv. H 36101). There are two small compositional studies at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Pajou later used this composition for a bas-relief sculpture in 1779.

The subject comes from Plutarch's Lives which tells the story of the infant king Pyrrhus finding asylum in Glaucias' kingdom after being banished from his native Epirus. Upon being presented to the king, the infant Pyrrhus won his favor by crawling up to the king, and standing up by pulling on the king's robe.

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