French portrait drawing 1600-1850

Nice exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery of pictures of people by French artists of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

It was based around a loan to the gallery of an Ingres of his friend and pupil Alphonse Hennett de Goutel which was the star of the show but other nice items included an unknown man from 1590-1610 with beautifully drawn curls.

I was also intrigued by De Troy’s studies of studio assistants in sitters’ robes as preparatory drawings but I’m not sure these are portraits.

The exhibition had nice works in it but could have done with building a narrative around them about whether styles or subjects had changed.

 

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