Drawing By Anne-louis Girodet, The Angel Of God And Balaam's Donkey, 1780.

Drawing by Anne-Louis Girodet, the Angel of God obstructs Balaam's donkey (Numbers 22, 21-23). Pen and black ink, gray wash, on paper (watermark D&CBlauw). Very good condition. Some foxing present in the upper part. Format 24 cm x 34 cm. Annotated, top left: invention of Girodet, drawn on June 29, 1780. Our drawing, illustrating a relatively unknown biblical episode, is due to the already very alert hand of a Girodet then aged 13. This is said to be his very first known drawing. Annotated on the back: (Girodet was almost a child) / drawing by Girodet Trioson / kept in his family / and taken from the collection / of Mr Pannetier / Liénard. The annotation on the back is certainly by the hand of Edouard Liénard (1779-1848), a fellow student of Girodet in David's studio, whose descendants donated a notebook of Roman sketches by Girodet to the BnF in 1879 (BnF, RESERVE DC-48(C)-4). As for the other person mentioned in the note, Antoine-Claude Pannetier (1772-1859), friend and student of Girodet, he had the initiative and responsibility for the publication of the Aeneid after the death of his friend. Provenance: from the collection of the Countess of X... (born around 1930), member of a family of enlightened amateurs who regularly attended the distinguished sales of the Hôtel Drouot in the years 1880-1910.