Thomas COUTURE - Lot 27

Thomas COUTURE (Senlis 1815 - Villiers le Bel 1879) Study of woman with broom for Pierrot malade Black pencil and white highlights on beige paper Size: 34 x 24.5 cm Monogrammed lower right T. C. Our drawing is a preparatory study for the figure on the left of the servant in the painting Pierrot malade, in the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City (see A. Boime, Thomas Couture and the eclectic vision, New Haven - London, 1980, reproduced no. IX - 35, p. 324). The picture, painted in the 1860s, belongs to a series of subjects inspired to Thomas Couture by characters from the comédie dell'Arte. The theme of Pierrot glouton, or Pierrot malade, was exploited in numerous pantomimes and pictorial works by artists such as Decamps. At the same time, it satirizes medicine.