FRANCOIS BOITARD (TOULOUSE 1670 – AMSTERDAM 1715)
Neptune and Diana (?)
pen and black ink over black chalk
395 x 535 mm (15 1/2 x 21 in.)

Bears inscription 'F. Boitard fecit' in pen and brown ink to the lower centre.

François Boitard has treated nautical subjects on several occasions (1) whether through the Triumph of Galatea (Darmsatdt) Thetis and Pélée (Sotheby's, 13th January1993, lot 1) or Neptune with his train (National Galleries of Scotland).

The present drawing draws strong stylistic comparison with Bacchus and Ariadne with a charriot drawn by amorini in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford 365 x 482 mm. Other large-scale drawings can be found in the collection of the British Museum.

Collector Pierre Jean Mariette called him an 'homme inquiet et débauché'.

(1) Pierre Rosenberg, Dominique Cordellier, Peter Mäker, Les Dessins Français du musée de Darmstadt, Paris, 2007, p. 289, no. 244