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Lot Essay
Edmond de Goncourt saw in the model a portrait of the famous actress Mlle Clairon (1723-1803), an assumption we find repeated in Portalis & Beraldi’s description of the print. This has been rejected since. However, the discovery of the present early proof before letters from the Goncourt Collection makes it quite plausible that Edmond de Goncourt had privileged insight and may well have been correct in his identification of the sitter. While this remains subject of speculation, the three men seated on the right, overseeing the competition, have been firmly identified as the academy members Claude Vassé, Jean Restout and the Conte de Caylus, who had founded the competition.
The present proof impression represents an undescribed intermediate state, after the first state in pure etching (British Museum, London), but before the finished state with letters.
The drawing of the subject by Cochin, in the same direction, is in the Louvre.
The present proof impression represents an undescribed intermediate state, after the first state in pure etching (British Museum, London), but before the finished state with letters.
The drawing of the subject by Cochin, in the same direction, is in the Louvre.