Jean-baptiste Le Prince (1734-1781), The Beloved Child, 18th Century Russerie, Red Chalk

Jean-Baptiste Le Prince (1734 -1781) The Beloved Child Sanguine 24 x 21.7 cm Related work: A Russian Family, watercolor, 32.5 x 27.5 cm, Epinal, Departmental Museum of the Vosges (Photo 5). Jean-Baptiste Le Prince was born in 1734 in Metz where he began to study painting. Le Prince quickly went to Paris to continue his apprenticeship, notably with François Boucher (1703-1770) who trained him in the Rococo vein but also introduced him to engraving. Following a trip to Italy, he decided to leave for Russia from 1758 to 1763. There he met his brother Marie-François Le Prince. Introduced to the court by the Marquis de l'Hôpital, he quickly won commissions, including some ceilings of the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg. The artist took advantage of this long stay to draw a large number of studies of Russian daily life. Back in France, he joined the Academy in 1765, with the "Russian Baptism" - an oil on canvas now preserved at the Musée de La Cour d'Or in Metz - which established "russeries" in official 18th-century painting. This new craze contributed to the fashion for exoticism that had seen the triumph, a few years earlier, of chinoiserie and turcerie. Among the many works that Le Prince brought back from his Russian travels is our drawing, which served as a model for a watercolor now preserved at the Musée d'Epinal (photo 5). The mother's pose and her turban are completely identical. The Epinal watercolor is dated 1767 at the bottom left, our drawing therefore precedes this work. The liveliness and simplicity of the line achieve great evocative power. The mother in our drawing is dressed in Eurasian features, an exceptional testimony to the Prince's travels and the beginnings of the fascination, which would grow in strength in the years to come, of old Europe for its Russian cousin.