Loading the page ...
Offrande d’un satyre. Etching. 23.5 x 16.8 cm. 1765. Baudicour 24, Inventaire du Fonds Français 25.
Jean Jacques Lagrenée was trained at the École Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in Paris and by his elder brother, Louis Jean François Lagrenée, with whom he spent the years from 1760 to 1762 in Russia, where they took up an appointment by Tsarina Elisabeth I. Here he made a name for himself primarily as a decoration painter and also produced his first etchings. From 1763 to 1768 the artist lived in Rome, where he continued his studies at the Académie de France. Back in Paris, Lagrenée developed into a talented and sought-after painter and printmaker, whose works were exhibited over several decades at the Paris Salons. In 1775 he was admitted to the Academy of his native city, while a few years later he was appointed professor and then head of the Sèvres porcelain manufactory. While Lagrenée’s later prints betray a strong neoclassical influence, the artist derived inspiration in his earlier works primarily from the etchings of the Genoese artist, Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione.
The present, extremely rare print showing a satyr’s family making a sacrifice at an altar also reveals clear affiliations with Castiglione’s art. The etching, executed in a light and vibrant style, arose during Lagrenée’s five-year sojourn in Rome. A very fine, even impression with thread margins around the depiction, with text in the lower margin. Minor ageing and handling marks, otherwise in excellent condition. From the collections of Alexandre-Pierre-François Robert-Dumesnil (Lugt 2200) and François Heugel, Paris (Lugt 3373).
Contact us for further information