Drawing, Jean Jouvenet, Preparatory study of two figures for the painting 'Supper in the house of Simon', French School, 1706

Study of a male figure seen from the back, wearing a large tunique and a turban; his arms are outstretched with his left hand closed while he is bending over his right knee. In the top right corner is an additional study of a man’s head seen in profile with a turban.

Bequeathed by Rev. Alexander Dyce

Jean-Pierre Mariette (Lugt 1852); part of lot 1273 of the 1775 sale, bought by Joullain; A. Dyce (L.711bis), by whom bequeathed to the museum in 1869; NAL dry stamp (not in Lugt).

This drawing is a preparatory study for the figure of the attendant in the foreground of the painting Supper in the house of Simon (Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon – A205) executed in 1706. The study of a head in profile on the top right corner is for the attendant bringing a tray on the right hand-side of the same painting. The drawing is squared in black chalk for transferring; this technique was often used as a method to transpose a preparatory study onto the definitive support.

Schnapper notes that Jouvenet seems to work by creating a sketch of the idea, followed by a general composition, subsequently detailed sketches of individual sections and eventually a refined “projet d’ensemble”. His technique, thus, is one of technical repetition, working on part or whole of an image. This dynamic movement between projects of composition and detailed studies makes Jouvenet unique amongst his contemporaries.

Jouvenet made other preparatory drawings for the painting Supper in the house of Simon: two studies for the attendant at the far right is in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lille (Inv. 3164), and in Alençon (Inv. 869-1-13). Another drawing shows the group of guests facing the Christ (Nationalmuseum, Stockholm – Inv. 2759).

The painting was originally part of a decorative cycle including Christ Driving the Money-changers from the Temple (Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon), the Resurrection of Lazarus and the Miraculous Draught of Fishes (both Louvre, Paris) made for the nave of the benedictine priory of Saint-Martin-des-Champs in Paris. The cycle was presented to the King Louis XIV in July 1705 when it was almost completed. The King was then so pleased that he ordered that tapestries should be made after the cycle. The tapestries were never achieved but Jouvenet supplied a cartoon after the Supper in the house of Simon to the Gobelins manufactory in 1711 (Musée des Beaux-Arts, Arras).

Jouvenet was one of the most important painters of religious works in France in the late 17th century and the early 18th , having painted his most famous religious works between 1695 and 1707. At the time of the Supper in Emmaus, in 1706, Jouvenet had been elected director of the Académie and was about to became its rector.

This drawing is a preparatory study for two of the figures of the attendants in the painting Supper in the house of Simon executed by Jouvenet in 1706. The drawing is squared in black chalk for transferring onto the canvas. This drawing is a fine example of Jouvenet’s artistic practice as he favoured sketches of lone figures rather than studies of the whole composition. Jean Jouvenet (1649-1717) studied under Charles Le Brun who was one of the founder-members of the Académie royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1648. Le brun was extremely concerned with the art education, including both theory and technique. Jouvenet followed his master's footpath in this matter and became director of the Académie at the time of the execution of the present study and finished painting.

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