Dog rolling on its back

Black pencil. Our drawing, which does not fail to recall the art of the great Flemish masters of the genre - Jan Fyt, Paul de Vos or Frans Snyders - is the work of a painter of the 18th century French school of the entourage of Francois Desportes.
An illegible signature at the top left.
Dimensions (sheet): 23 x 31 cm

Alexandre François Desportes (Champigneulle 1661 - Paris 1743) is the son of a rich Ardennes farmer. Barely twelve years old, he was sent to his uncle's in Paris where he began his apprenticeship with the Flemish painter Nicasius Bernaerts, himself a pupil of the animal painter Frans Snyders.
Desportes is quickly recognized and he is called to produce paintings to decorate royal residences: Versailles, Marly, Meudon, La Muette, ...

Painter of the hunts and of the royal pack, Desportes follows the king during his hunts. Thus Saint-Simon reports "he even usually went hunting by his side, with a small wallet to draw ..."
His son Claude François (1695-1774) will be his pupil and will write his biography.