BP-catalogue2023#Final - Flipbook - Page 34
Two drawings of the same composition but of smaller
dimensions, treated freely in pen and with pen and
brown wash over red chalk are reproduced in the
rejected section of the catalogue raisonné of Nicolas
Poussin’s drawings (1594-1665) by Pierre Rosenberg
and Louis-Antoine Prat1. One is in the Staatliche
Graphische Sammlung, Munich (Fig. 1)2, the other
in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rennes (Fig. 2)3. The
two drawings are returned, as well as others that
had been grouped under the name of “ Master
of Stockholm ”, in 1996, by Jacques Thuillier4, then
Sylvain Laveissière5 to an artist of Poussin’s entourage
whose artistic personality has only relatively recently
been rediscovered, Charles-Alphonse Dufresnoy.
More recently, Guillaume Kazerouni has linked the
Rennes and Munich drawings with a painting known
only from a black-and-white illustration from an
unidentified sales catalogue (Fig. 3)6. It is not clear
from the illustration whether this is an original or a
copy, but it does confirm that Dufresnoy painted an
Adoration of the Magi that faithfully reproduces the
composition of the present drawing.
It could not have been attributed to Dufresnoy if
it was not obviously related to the the Rennes and
Munich sheets, so different is it from what has been
known until now of the artist’s drawings. It is, in fact,
of larger dimensions and of a much more finished
aspect. While on the artist’s characteristic drawings, it
is the brown wash work that prevails, on the present
sheet, the precise outlines in red chalk are noticeable,
while the artist has used a grey wash for the
background, with a much weaker tone than the brown
wash, which can be seen on the Rennes and Munich
sheets, but also on so many of the artist’s works. The
present drawing thus offers a new facet of Dufresnoy’s
drawing œuvre.
The inscription “ pusin ”, the old mount with two
framing lines in pen and brown ink as well as the
numbering on the recto and the initials on the verso
are characteristic of the drawings having formed
the collection of the painter Adrien Manglard which
counted more than seven thousand five hundred
sheets7. He also owned a large number of drawings
by Charles Mellin (1597-1649), another artist in
Poussin’s circle, most of which bear similar inscriptions.
The collection was offered for sale in Rome following
Manglard’s death, and Natoire was one of the
principal purchasers. The part of the collection that
did not sell in Rome was auctioned in Paris, starting
on June 7, 1762.
Fig. 1
Charles-Alphonse Dufresnoy, L’Adoration des Mages,
Munich, Staatliche Graphische Sammlung
Fig. 2
Charles-Alphonse Dufresnoy, L’Adoration des Mages,
Rennes, Musée des Beaux-Arts
Fig. 3
Charles-Alphonse Dufresnoy (ou d’après), L’Adoration
des Mages, localisation inconnue