An absolutely charming 18th Century French Ink Drawing Of Putti playing with a swan and a boat By Louis Félix DELARUE.
The charming drawing is executed in ink and brown wash in masterful strokes which bring to life the scene depicted.
The Cherubs or Putti can be seen playing with a majestic swan and manning a sailboat.
The Swan here symbolises love and beauty. In Roman mythology the Swan was sacred to Venus the Goddess of Love.
The sweet cherub here take a playful side and row the human boat towards love and beauty.
It is somewhat funny to see that the Cherubs are originally the same mystical beings called Cherubim’s known during Antiquity and more particularly to the Assyrians as the Fearful Winged Bulls defending their city gates….
With the Renaissance came the transformation from the more fearsome Angels into the Young and Cheeky Cherubs, full of mirth and sweetness!
Here they are only represented as the messengers of Love and Purity.
Louis Félix DELARUE was born in Paris on October 10th 1730, and passed away in this same city on June 24th 1777.
A wonderful draughtsman and sculptor he studied under Lambert Sigisbert Adam and obtained in 1750 the Prix de Rome. He went on to Study at the Academia in Rome and returned only later to the Academie de Saint Luc.
He was a particularly talented artist and was often mistaken for his brother Philibert Benoit De La Rue, though his oldest sibling wrote his last name differently (in three words instead of only 1) and had a completely different style of drawing, specializing mostly in battle scenes.
Louis Felix DELARUE’s drawing of the Putti is a masterpiece of delicate strokes and wonderful life!
The Gilt wood frame original to the piece.
The Mat is done the Pierre Jean Mariette style.
An Art dealer, collector, art historian, Pierre-Jean Mariette (1694–1774) was widely revered in his time for the breadth of his knowledge, particularly in the field of drawings. He believed that drawings, to a greater extent than paintings, revealed an artist’s true spirit and their careful study and analysis were therefore indispensable to an accurate history of art.
Mariette assembled one of the finest and most renowned drawings collections. Comprising over nine thousand sheets, the collection was dispersed at auction in 1775, and the drawings are now found all over the world.
The characteristic blue mounts that Mariette devised for his drawings, and that now bear his name, attest to the great care he took in displaying each sheet. While these mounts have always been celebrated for their elegance and refinement.
The drawing was appraised by the Cabinet de Bayser, under number 380/14
The drawing measures 5.51 inches long and 4.33 inches high.
The frame measures 9.44 inches long and 8.46 inches high.