Jules Machard
Sampans, 1839 – Bellevue, 1900
Two studies of women for the ceiling “The Passage of Venus” ?
320 x 260 mm – 12 5/8 x 10 1/4 in.
Red chalk on beige paper.
Stamped signature J. Machard (L. 5030) lower right.
This drawing belongs to a set of 85 drawings from the studio of Jules Machard presented by Drawings-online. Read our focus on the artist.
On his return from Rome in 1874, Jules Machard was invited to London by the Duke and Duchess of Buccleugh, who commissioned three paintings for the ceilings of Montagu House Castle. These works, of mythological subjects, represented Psyche returned to Love, Psyche carried off by Zephyr and the Passage of Venus before the Sun.
These two studies of women are probably preparatory to The Passage of Venus before the Sun, which the artist exhibited at the 1877 Salon.
