FRANÇOIS LEMOYNE attributed to

ALLEGORY OF TIME

FRANÇOIS LEMOYNE
Paris 1688 – 1737 Paris

Charcoal on paper
59 x 42 cm / 23.2 x 16.5 inches; with frame 72 x 55 cm / 28.3 x 21.7 inches

Eighteenth-century French drawing represents one of the most brilliant chapters in the history of European draftsmanship. It was a time of extraordinary virtuosity, bold creative experimentation, and at the same time remarkable productivity. Artists explored a wide range of techniques and genres, while drawing achieved full recognition as an object worthy of study and collecting. Connoisseurship developed rapidly, and the study of graphic art became an integral part of the collecting process. The drawn line itself became a kind of signature — so individual that it defined the artist’s identity. One cannot mistake, for instance, the light and painterly touch of Fragonard or the firm manner of Greuze.
When I first encountered this drawing at an auction, I was immediately struck by the way the artist rendered the face and hair of the figure. The device was familiar to me. The head is seen from a slightly elevated viewpoint, which allows the smooth curve of the brow to be echoed by the parallel line of the eye; the hair follows the same rhythm, reinforcing the design. Of course, such a device can be found in the work of many artists, but for me it was above all associated with François Lemoyne, the outstanding French painter of the first half of the eighteenth century. Supporting this initial impression was the very conception of the male figure — an Allegory of Time; similar compositions appear among Lemoyne’s rich corpus of drawings preserved in the Louvre (see Joconde database).
Another important factor pointing to Lemoyne as a possible author of the sheet is the characteristic use of cross-hatching to convey volume. This device, reflecting solid academic training, is not very common; among major masters (and in this case the high quality of execution is beyond doubt) it is employed consistently by Lemoyne. Taken together, these observations justify an attribution of the drawing to François Lemoyne or to an artist of his circle.
François Lemoyne (1688–1737) was an outstanding French painter and draughtsman, and one of the creators of the Rococo style. A pupil of Louis Galloche, he won the Prix de Rome in 1711, and in 1736 was appointed Premier peintre du Roi (First Painter to the King). His greatest achievement was the monumental ceiling of the Salon d’Hercule at Versailles (The Apotheosis of Hercules), a work whose scale and brilliance contemporaries compared to the Venetian ceilings of Tiepolo. Lemoyne was not only a master of monumental painting but also an exceptional draughtsman. His sheets are marked by freedom, imagination, and a supple plasticity of line. In them one can already sense the elegance that would later become emblematic of Fragonard and Boucher. Lemoyne’s drawings were valued in his lifetime and remain rare on the market today, making them especially attractive to collectors.

PROVENANCE
Denmark, private collection