Virgin and Child, known as Our Lady of Graces,... Lot 286

Virgin and Child, known as Our Lady of Graces, in plaster painted white, model, sketched back. The Virgin is standing, leaning on her left leg, the other bent, the bust slightly forward and turning her head to the right; she surrounds with her arms the Child, completely naked, who is standing on a palm tree trunk, his feet on a piece of Mary's mantle; Jesus spreads his arms and looks away from his Mother; the Virgin, with raised hair, wears a veil at the back of the head and a girdled dress; her mantle is draped on the front while one of its ends resting on her right shoulder is held by her left hand hiding the sex of the Child; terrace with the corners down. Signature and date on the back coysevox 1670. Antoine Coysevox (Lyon, 1640- 1720, Paris), 1670 Height: 52 cm (some epauflures, accident to the right hand of the Child, flaking paint in places) Works consulted: H. Jouin, Antoine Coyzevox, sa vie, son oeuvre, Paris, 1883, p.46-47G. Keller-Dorian, Antoine Coysevox (1640-1720), catalogue raisonné de son oeuvre, Paris, 1920, Volume I, No. 5-7, p.8.F. Souchal, French sculptors of the 17th and 18th centuries - The reign of Louis XIV, Oxford, 1966, Vol. 1, pp 177-178; Christie's Monaco Sale, Lagerfeld Collection, 18-19 April 2020, lot 210, (sold fresh including 105,750 F) This plaster model appears to be the first sketch made by Coysevox for the large marble Virgin, now in the church of Saint-Nizier in Lyon, which was previously located at the corner of a house in the rue du Plat d'Argent and the present rue de l'Hôtel de Ville (fig.a). 190 cm high, it is thought to have been sculpted in 1676, six years after this plaster. Several models are known, about 50 cm high, which were used to complete this masterpiece. Another plaster model from the former Dammartin collection, signed and dated 1676 on the front terrace, can be seen in the museum.