XVI - Drawings and Paintings - Marty de Cambiaire

Antoine Pesne, Samson et Dalila,
Carcassonne, Musée des beaux-arts.
and Delilah, now in the collection of the
Musée des Beaux-Arts in Carcassonne,
for which this drawing is preparatory. The
artist also painted a bozzetto, today in the
Musée des Beaux-arts in Rouen.
The Gemäldegalerie in Berlin has an
earlier version of this subject which the artist
chose not to pursue for his reception piece.
It shall be connected to two drawings: a
preparatory study in the collection of the
National Gallery of Scotland and a ricordo
in the Louvre (Inv. 32352). Although the
present sheet is executed in the same
combination of grey wash and red chalk
that is found in the Scotland drawing, the
artist’s style in it is more confident and more
direct than in most of his known sheets. His draughtsmanship here is reminiscent of that
of his contemporary Venetian artists, such as Antonio Molinari. This confirms the Venetian
influence which is even more evident in the picture. We would like to express our
gratitude to Jean Christophe Baudequin who was the first to recognise Antoine Pesne’s
hand in the present sheet.
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Dessins et Tableaux