Augustin Dupre. Sketch of a child (Narcisse Dupre). Undated (ca. 1790s). Pencil on colored pale blue paper, blank on verso. Signed "Dupre" at center of bottom margin. Fine.
199 mm x 155 mm. Stamped with Narcisse Dupre's marks of ownership at lower left and right corners, at left the initials "ND," at right "A. Dupre fecit" in imitation of the elder Dupre's signature, each in blue ink. A superb original piece of art by one of France's greatest medalists, best known in America for his execution of the Libertas Americana medal on behalf of Benjamin Franklin, and signed by the artist in the same distinctive signature seen on his majestic medal for Daniel Morgan at Cowpens. The portrait is executed entirely in pencil, shaded with great expertise, depicting his infant son Narcisse huddled against a simple tall chair. A tiny defect is seen in the left field, not affecting the portrait, and a trivial stain is seen at the right margin. The condition and presentation is excellent. This portrait was passed down with many of Dupre's drawings through his son, the sitter, to a business partner and his descendants, before being sold as an archive in a New York Bonham's auction in 2014 for $351,000. While most of the Dupre sketches in the archive were somewhat numismatic, only two appear to have depicted Narcisse. This is the finer and more attractive of the two. We have previously offered a Dupre sketch for the lion depicted on the Libertas Americana medal (October 2015, lot 2, $18,212) and the 1790 Diplomatic medal (October 2015, lot 4, $70,500). This is only the third piece of Dupre's art we've been fortunate to offer at public auction.
From our March 2021 Auction, lot 4001.