Preparatory drawing by J.J. Flipart after J.B Greuze's self-portrait

This black chalk drawing has the precision of a miniature. It represents a real discovery: the missing link between Greuze's wash self-portrait and the engraving made after it by Jean-Jacques Flipart in 1763. It gives us an insight into the work of the engraver, faced with the daunting task of meticulously translating the allusive nature of the wash without losing the likeness of the model.

1. Jean-Jacques Flipart and the place of engraving in Greuze's work

We have little bibliographical information on Jean-Jacques Flipart, the King's engraver. His father Jean-Charles Flipart (who was born in Abbeville in 1684 and died in Paris in 1751) was also an engraver and trained his three sons in engraving: the eldest, Jean-Jacques (1719-1782), Charles-Joseph (1721-1797) and Charles-François (1730-1773). Jean-Jacques was then a pupil of the famous engraver Laurent Cars (1699-1771), in whose house he lived, and then of Pierre-Alexandre Aveline (1702 - 1762). He died in 1782 of a stroke. Gaucher states that his prints "are as estimable for the precision of the drawing as for the accuracy of the effect".

The reproduction of Greuze’s works through engraving played a very important role in the painter’s life, since the royalties from the sale of these prints brought him a veritable fortune (estimated by the artist at three hundred thousand livres) . His association with Flipart, but also with other engravers such as Massard, Gaillard and Levasseur, was extremely fruitful, as the success of his paintings ensured the sale of his prints, which, once framed, decorated the walls of his contemporaries. As success led to forgery, Greuze and his engravers did not hesitate to sign the prints on the reverse to guarantee their authenticity. In addition to the Portrait, Flipart engraved six paintings by Greuze, including L'Accordée du Village, one of the painter's best-known artworks.

2. Greuze's self-portrait in profile and its engraving by Flipart

This portrait, painted in brush and grey ink wash, measures 157 x 134 mm (fourth photo in the gallery) . Oval in shape and framed in trompe l'oeil, it is very similar in size to our drawing.

This portrait is close to the portrait of Robert Strange, which is also thought to have been painted in brush and grey ink around 1760 (Edinburgh, Scottish National Portrait Gallery), but also to the portraits of Denis Diderot (painted in 1766 and engraved by Gaucher the same year) and Catherine II of Russia (engraved by Gaucher in 1782).

Unlike these two other male portraits, whose hairstyles are unadorned, Greuze's is particularly sophisticated. The engraver Charles Dufresne recounts in his Cahiers the origin of this original hairstyle, known as "pigeon's wing", which is said to have been given to the young artist by one of his first conquests, when he had gone to her house "in negligee, without having thought of [doing] his hair".

We have also reproduced (fifth and sixth photos in the gallery) the two known states of the engraving: a trial proof and the final engraving. These two states allow us to better understand the engraver's work, and to see how he gradually approached a treatment of the hair that closely matches that of our drawing (particularly for the lower curl, whose cylindrical shape is revealed in the final state).

While the entire drawing was done using black chalk, it is interesting to note that the nostril appears to have been highlighted (along with the corners of the mouth) with a pen stroke. This detail in the wing of the nose can also be found in Diderot's portrait (photo of the detail in the gallery), which was entirely drawn in black stone and white chalk. Could this be a correction by Greuze to the drawing by Flipart?

3. Flipart the draftsman

The quality of the drawing, which leaves no doubt as to its place in the execution of the engraving, implied two possible attributions: Greuze or Flipart. We prefer to go for the latter, as the technique used for this drawing is very different from that used by Greuze in his other drawings.

We have found only three drawings by Flipart (two in public collections, one sold in 2009). The two drawings in public collections both relate to the Gâteau des Rois, one of Greuze's paintings engraved by Flipart, and show the meticulous preparation of his engraving through drawings. The drawing from the Albertina (ninth photo of the gallery - the other is in the Musée du Louvre) is the most evocative of the precision and attention to detail (also found in our portrait) that characterize Flipart's drawings.

4. Framing

This drawing is presented in a carved and gilded wooden frame from the Louis XV period, stamped "E.L. INFROIT JME" (Etienne-Louis Infroit, master sculptor at the Académie de Saint-Luc on 14 August 1759, died in 1774).

Main bibliographical sources:
Camille Mauclair - Jean-Baptiste Greuze - Art publishing, H. Piazza et Cie
Edgar Munhall - Jean-Baptiste Greuze 1725 - 1805 - catalogue of the exhibition organized by the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford (1 December 1976 - 23 January 1977) - Joseph Focarino 1976
Edgar Munhall - Greuze the Draftsman - Merell Publishers Limited 2002