2007-07-16
This engraving ca. 1780 (by Jacques-Firmin Beauvarlet
Abbeville 1731-Paris 1797?) is made
after a painting by the French painter
François-Hubert Drouais (1727-1775), or Drouais le fils, entitled
"The children of the Comte
Béthune playing with a
dog". The original painting is (or was) in the possession of Mrs. Eugenia W. Ryan, New York.
The painting may be identical with the one mentioned in Guitares Chefs-d'oeuvre des collections de
France, Paris 1980 p. where it is said : "Better still, as early as 1761 Drouais (1727-1775) had painted the two sons of the Duke
of Bouillon, dressed as mountaineers;
the elder has an elegant guitar
and holds his dog's paw to make him strum the instrument." Drouais
also portrayed Mme Clotilde, princesse
de Piedmont playing the guitar (Musée de Versailles). The engraving
is reversed, but this has been corrected here.
More information about Drouais can
be found in the National Gallery
of Art, Washington. Another
painting by Drouais can be found in the Louvre.
I'm most grateful to Rudolf Henning, Württembergische
Landesbibliothek, Stuttgart, who supplied
me with this information. If you have further
information please send an e-mail to
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