French School, 18th Century – The Peacock Complaining To Juno – Drawing

Drawing on paper depicting the famous fable by La Fontaine, “The Peacock Complaining to Juno” (seventeenth fable from Book II).
Dimensions: 24.5 × 19 cm (visible) ; 36 × 29.5 cm (with frame).

Oudry worked on the drawings for the Fables between 1729 and 1734 (cf. Christie’s sale, 25 January 2023). In 1751, they were sold to Charles-Philippe Monthenault d’Égly, who planned a luxurious edition of them.
As the drawings could not serve directly as models, Montenault had them all redrawn by the engraver Charles-Nicolas Cochin the Younger. At the 1753 Salon, several of the completed engravings were exhibited. The first two volumes were completed in 1755.

The project was made possible thanks to a donation of 80,000 livres from Louis XV. The original edition consisted of three separate printings, with different formats and paper qualities. The complete edition comprises four volumes in total: the first two appeared in 1755, the third in 1756, and the fourth in 1759.

For its period, its finesse, and the strength of its subject, this work stands out as a remarkable example of 18th-century drawing.