Jean TOUZÉ (Paris, 1747 - 1809) Allegory... - Lot 180 - Ader

Lot 180
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15000 - 20000 EUR
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Result : 37 120EUR
Jean TOUZÉ (Paris, 1747 - 1809) Allegory... - Lot 180 - Ader
Jean TOUZÉ (Paris, 1747 - 1809) Allegory of painting Black stone, brush, Indian ink and white chalk on beige paper. 50,3 x 43,5 cm Provenance: - Sale of a fine collection of drawings [...] most of which [...] sent from abroad, & others from the Cabinet of M*** [Alexandre-Joseph Paillet (1743-1814)], Paris, November 21, 1785, no. 144 ("a drawing in black & white pencils on gray paper, representing Minerva crowning the Arts by Mr. Touzé."). - Probably former Laurent Laperlier (1805-1878) collection; his sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, March 27-29, 1879, no. 508 (as anonymous, "Minerva crowning a painter, beautiful composition in very light black pencil. In Fol."). - Former Jean Masson (1856-1933) collection, its stamp lower left (L.1494a); its sale, Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, May 7-8, 1923, no. 148 (as Jean-Guillaume Moitte). Bibliography: - E. Bénézit, Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs..., Paris, 1911-1923, t. III, p. 457. - G. Gramaccini, J.-G. Moitte, Leben und Werk, Berlin, 1993, vol. I, p. 32-33 and vol. II, p. 46 and p. 216, cat. 101, ill. 156. Jean Touzé, a pupil of Greuze, produced a large number of drawings for engravers. He began to make a name for himself in Paris in the 1770s with genre and theater scenes. Grimm curiously notes: "This Touzé has been famous in Paris for a few years, by the talent of imitating and counterfeiting that he possesses to the supreme degree" (see: F.-M. Grimm, Correspondance littéraire, philosophique et critique, t. II, Paris, 1812, p. 203-204). The Goncourts owned several sheets by Touzé, whom they appreciated for his precise and meticulous drawing. Here Touzé goes off the beaten track and successfully shows himself in a neoclassical light. The drawing represents an allegory of painting characterized by the return to the antique. The painter wears an antique toga, his studio is strewn with antique sculptures, scholarly books and the painting on the easel represents an antique subject with the Temple of Tivoli in the background. Minerva, holding a laurel wreath, appears in a cloud, symbol of inspiration. A painted sketch of the same subject with many variations is known (see: anonymous sale, Christie's, Paris, March 27, 2019, no. 94).
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