(Tournus 1725-1805 Paris) A study of a young woman in a red kerchief, red chalk on laid paper, 32,7 x 23,8 cm, mounted, framed, (Sch)

Provenance:
Private collection, France.

The attribution of the sheet to Jean Baptiste Greuze was confirmed by Alastair Laing on the basis of a digital photography.

The present drawing with the bust of a young woman in red chalk is a characteristic head study by Jean Baptiste Greuze. The artist frequently made such studies when he prepared figures for his paintings. In most cases they are character studies, so-called "Tête de caractères", which were often reproduced in prints and thus served his pupils as model images. When designing portraits Greuze normally limited himself to the depicition of heads; in those cases where Greuze also depicted the upper body of the figure and parts of their clothes, the garment is represented in a similar summary manner. A drawing by Greuze which is stylistically and in regard of its viewframe comparable with the present study ("Head of a young woman wearing a kerchief over her hair") was sold at Sotheby’s on July 9th, 2008 (lot 120) and appeared thereafter in the sales catalogue of Paul Prouté, Paris 2009 as "Barocci" (Cat. No 14).