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 in the upper part. Size 24 cm x 34 cm. Annotated, upper left: invention of Girodet, drawn on June 29, 1780. Our drawing, illustrating a rather little-known biblical episode, is the work of the already very skillful hand of a Girodet then aged 13. This would 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 in the hand of Edouard Liénard (1779-1848), fellow student of Girodet in David's studio, whose descendants donated a notebook of Girodet's Roman sketches 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 edition 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 assiduously frequented the distinguished sales of the Hôtel Drouot in the years 1880-1910.