(1660–1725)
A reclining male nude with drapery, inscribed “Gainsborough” by another hand in pen and brown ink, black and white chalk, on grey laid paper, 30 x 50 cm, a loss made up at upper right corner, old mounting, mounted, framed, (Sch)

Provenance:
Private collection, Italy.

The present drawing formerly attributed to Thomas Gainsborough could have been executed by the French painter and illustrator Louis Chéron. Even though Chéron was very successful in France the artist had to flee the country to England in the wake of the persecution of the protestants after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. He settled in London and participated in several significant decorations assigned by Duke Montague such as in Montague House (1706–1712), Burghley House und Chatsworth House. In 1718 Chéron resigned from Godfrey Kneller’s Great Queen Street Academy where he gave art lessons to students and founded St. Martin’s Lane Academy together with John Vanderbank. Chéron also made numerous drawings for engravings. Comparable nude studies which are signed are kept in an album with drawings in the British Museum which comprises 126 sheets including two male and one female nudes (Inv. 1953, 1021.11.86; 1953, 1021.11.99; 1953, 1021.11.71), and are noteworthy in the context of the present sheet.