Jean Baptiste OUDRY (Paris 1686 - Beauvais 1755)

Lot 31
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Estimation :
40000 - 60000 EUR
Result without fees
Result : 62 000EUR
Jean Baptiste OUDRY (Paris 1686 - Beauvais 1755)
The wolf and the lamb Canvas Signed lower left JB. Oudry 49,5 x 61 cm Mrs Karen CHASTAGNOL has confirmed the authenticity of this work on the basis of the original. Note : - A black pencil drawing by Oudry for the Wolf's Head (18 x 25 cm) is preserved in the Musée d'Orléans (see Dessins Français du Musée d'Orléans, Paris, Musée du Louvre, 1975 - 1976, n°81, reproduced). - A drawing for the composition in black and white pencil is kept in the museum of Pontoise (see catalogue OUDRY, 1982 P. 219 fi g. 120b) - The preparatory drawing of Pontoise for our painting shows on the left the Clock Wing of the Château de Bellevue, showing that the composition must be related to the four door tops of Oudry representing the Fables of the Fountain exhibited at the Salon of 1750. These four paintings had been painted for the dining room of the Château de Bellevue belonging to Madame de Pompadour. These paintings did not please Madame de Pompadour and have now disappeared. Our painting, and the drawing of Pontoise, are probably the only trace of this prestigious commission. Oudry is the most famous illustrator of the Fables of La Fontaine. Between 1729 and 1734 he drew a whole series of drawings for the Parisian edition of the Fables in four volumes in folio, which served as the basis for prints published between 1755 and 1760, and several independent series of paintings. He is also known to have painted several pictures based on La Fontaine's fables; The Lion and the Gnat (1732, Stockholm, National Museum), The Fox and the Stork, and The Monkey and the Cat. - Our picture illustrates Fable X, The Wolf and the Lamb, in which a lamb quenches its thirst in a river, and is confronted by an angry wolf who accuses it of invasion. The clever young lamb refutes the wolf's accusations point by point, until the wolf drags him into the woods and eats him. "Might is right," La Fontaine observes. "The verdict goes to the strongest." The subject was often treated by Oudry in drawings and paintings. Let us mention the picture painted in 1747 for the apartment of the Dauphin at Versailles. A painting very similar to ours is in the Musée du Puy, another in the Musée la Cour d'Or in Metz - signed and dated 1751 -, and another sold at Christie's, New - York, on 31 January 2013, No. 217. Other versions are documented or passed in 18th century sales.
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