Jean Pierre Feuchères
Documented during the 18th century
Latona and the Lycian peasants
Signed Feuchère Jean lower left.
180 x 158 mm – 7 1/16 x 6 1/4 in.
Provenance – G. Rapilly sale, 27 January 1907 ; Albert Finot, Troyes, his mark (Lugt 3627) lower center; by descent to his son André Finot; Paris, sale Audap, Godeau, Solanet, Collection Albert Finot et divers amateurs, 19 March 1982, n° 60 ; Jean de La Motte de Broöns and Roswitha Erbslöh, Rennes, their mark (Lugt 4055) on the verso ; Stanislas d’Albuquerque, Paris, his mark (Lugt 3149) on the verso.
One of the exponents of an important family of master founders, gilders, chiselers and bronze smiths active during the 18th century, Jean Pierre Feuchères worked at the same period of time as Pierre-François Feuchères. One of them – maybe both of them – was the author of a famous candlestick, called “with lovebirds” made for Marie-Antoinette in 1787 and reproduced many times during the 19th century. These master chiselers worked at the Crown Garde-meuble; their workshop survived until the 19thcentury with Lucien-François Feuchères and his son Armand. Léon Feuchères, Armand’s brother and a well-known architect, settled in the South of France where he built numerous monuments and façades – his most famous work being Avignon opera house and theatre.
This drawing belongs to a series of eight, which had remained together until the Finot sale on 19 March 1982. Because all of them are signed Feuchère Jean, they were attributed to the Romantic sculptor and most famous member of this family, Jean-Jacques Feuchères.
The style of these drawings – some of which have recently reappeared on the market –obviously links them to the 18th-century generation of craftsmen. The chiseled quality of the line, the sense of volume and the way of detaching the figures from the background point towards an ornamentalist artist. This drawing finally recovers its author, Jean Pierre Feuchères, bronze smith in Versailles, where the observation of the Latona fountain may have stimulated his creativity.
Condition report – The left edge irregularly cut. The medium and paper in very good condition. Verso: pieces of paper (mount) on the lower and upper edges. A small piece of paper laid down on the lower centre.
