La Sultane Lisant
Gift of Curtis O. Baer.
Another version of this popular composition by an anonymous artist is also in the collection of the Library (Acc. No. I, 282).
The subject of this drawing attests to the vogue for "turquerie" in art during the eighteenth century. Several versions of this composition by other artists exist, including another in the Library (I, 282). According to Scheyer, the present sheet is the Boucher original which served as a design for an engraving by Claude-Augustin Duflos (Ananoff and Wildenstein 1976, I, p. 29, fig. 68) for Jean-Antoine Guer's "Moeurs et Usages des Turcs, leur Religion, leur Gouvernement civil, militaire et politique, avec un abrégé de l'Histoire Ottomane", I, p. 352 (Paris, 1746) and from which subsequent copies were made.<br>Anne de Herdt observed that Boucher was inspired by Liotard's drawing of "Dame franque à demi-étendue sur un divan, lisant un livre, dite, Sultane lisant" in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Carcassonne (de Herdt, p. 138 under no. 70, 140 under no. 71).<br>Curatorial remarks by Cara Dufour Denison.
Humphrey, Mrs., former owner.
Booth, Ralph H., Mrs., former owner.
Baer, Curtis O., former owner.
Adams, Frederick B., Jr. Eighth Annual Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1958, p. 76-77.
Pierpont Morgan Library. Review of Acquisitions, 1949-1968. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1969, p. 134.
Alexandre Ananoff, with the collaboration of Daniel Wildenstein, François Boucher, 2 vols., Lausanne and Paris, 1976, I, p. 29.