This drawing entered the museum in 1978 as a work by Gabriel de Saint-Aubin. Over the years scholars have expressed doubts about the attribution. It is now considered to be by an anonymous artist working in the style of Saint-Aubin.
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Title:Theatrical Divertissement at an Evening Party
Artist:Anonymous, French
Date:18th century
Medium:Pen and brown ink, watercolor and gouache
Dimensions:7 15/16 x 10 1/4 in. (20.2 x 26 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:Bequest of Therese Kuhn Straus, in memory of her husband, Herbert N. Straus, 1977
Object Number:1978.12.2
A. Pérignon (French)Sale, Paris, May 29, 1864, lot 462; Hippolyte-Alexandre-Gabriel-Walter Destailleur (French)Sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, May 19-23, 1896, lot 869; Emile Lion (French)Sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, Dec. 12-13, 1907, lot 164; Hôtel Drouot, Paris June 25, 1930, lot 16; Seligmann Gallery New York
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "French Drawings Recently Acquired, 1975-1984," November 27, 1984–February 10, 1985.
Bean and Turcic 1986.278, Dacier 1929-31.659
Emile Dacier Gabriel de Saint-Aubin: Peintre, dessinateur et graveur (1724-1780). 2 vols., Paris and Brussels, 1929-1931, cat. no. 659, fig. no. pl.XXIV.
Commemorative Catalogue of the Exhibition of French Art, 1200-1900
January - March, 1932. Royal Academy of Arts, Oxford and London, 1933, cat. no. 758, p. 162, ill.
Master Drawings, Selected from the Museums and Private Collections of America Exh. cat., The Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, Albright Art Gallery, January 1935. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1935, cat. no. 77, ill.
Regina Shoolman, Charles E. Slatkin Six Centuries of French Master Drawings in America. Oxford University Press, New York, 1950, p. 74, ill.
French Drawings from American Collections: Clouet to Matisse A Special Loan Exhibition, February 3–March 15, 1959. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1959, cat. no. 81, p. 67, ill.
Great Drawings of All Time. Edited by Ira Moskowitz, vol. 3, New York, 1962, cat. no. 708, ill.
Linda Boyer Gillies, Colta Ives French Drawings and Prints of the Eighteenth Century. Ex. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1972, cat. no. 43.
Jacob Bean "Departmental Accessions: Drawings." Annual Report of the Trustees of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, July 1, 1977 - June 30, 1978. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 108, New York, 1978, p. 36, ill.
Jacob Bean Notable Acquisitions (Metropolitan Museum of Art), 1975-1979: Drawings. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1979, p. 57, ill.
Jacob Bean, Lawrence Turčić 15th-18th Century French Drawings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1986, cat. no. 278, p. 245, ill.
Philip Conisbee "New York French Drawings [exhibition review]." The Burlington Magazine. vol. 128, London, December 1986, p. 925.
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