Summer. 1784

Jean-Baptiste Hüet

1745 – Paris – 1811

Watercolour, partly heightened in white. Signed and dated 1784. On a contemporary French mount.

Highly finished and splendidly coloured watercolour. This is the preparatory drawing, in reverse, for the famous, eponymous colour print by Gilles Antoine Demarteau (1750 – Paris – 1802). (C. Cabillot, Les Hüet, Jean-Baptiste et ses trois fils, Paris, 1892, p. 137, ill.); (L. de Leymarie, L'œuvre de Gilles Demarteau, Paris, 1896, cat. no. 633).

Hüet was best known for his animal and pastoral scenes. This is one of his finest watercolours and epitomises the daintiness and playfulness of the French Rococo. His mentor, François Boucher, considered Hüet as his natural successor and the present work confirms this opinion.

Bought by a private collector, Northern America.