French School (18th Century) Dancing Putti

Artist: French School (18th Century) Dancing Putti.
Title: Dancing Putti.
Medium: Gouache on Vellum.
Image Size: Height: 16.3cm x Width: 28cm.
Framed Size: Height: 38cm x Width: 44.5cm x Depth: 4.5cm.
Condition: The work and the original period French Rococo frame are in excellent condition. The frame is glazed with anti-reflective UV-resistant Museum Glass.
Provenance: Rupert and Robin Hambro, London. From the collection of late banking heir and philanthropist Rupert Hambro (Hambros Bank) and his wife Robin, a former model and editor of Vogue. Rupert Hambro was Treasurer of the National Art Collections Fund, Chairman of The Museum of London, The Silver Trust and The Royal College of Art London.

About: This gouache on vellum scene of the dancing putti is derived from a drawing by Giovanni Antonio de' Sacchis (Italian 1484 -1539) known as Pordenone II.

The rococo movement began after 1715 when France welcomed a new king for the first time in seventy-two years, Louis XV succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV, the Sun King, who had made France the preeminent power in Europe. The late king's nephew, the duc d'Orléans, governed the next eight years as regent. France turned away from imperial aspirations to focus on more personal and pleasurable pursuits. Artists shifted from grandiloquence to the sensual surface delights of colour and light, and more intimate mythological scenes, views of daily life, and portraiture. Leaving behind to a degree religious and historical subjects. This work and its frame personify the rococo period, the putti are rendered by a skilled hand and delicately painted this is a truly unique work.