price: U.S. $5,000

Associate of ANTOINE COYPEL

1661 — Paris — 1722

The Departure of Sancho for the Isle of Barataria

watercolor on heavy laid paper. 111/4 x 117/8" (286 x 302 mm). monogrammed l/r: AC

This composition is derived from one of twenty-eight tapestry designs by Coypel illustrating Cervante’s Don Quixote, for which the artist was greatly celebrated. The cartoon for The Departure of Sancho was executed by Coypel in oil on canvas1 in the last months of 1717 for the Manufacture des Gobelins. The earliest production of the tapestry was during the years 1717-1719 in the atelier of LeFavre.2 The series enjoyed great success and was rewoven repeatedly.

The present scene was engraved by the elder Louis Surugue in 1723-1724 and again by Simon Fokke in a smaller version. The present watercolor, also a reduction, may relate to one of these engravings. It was painted, apparently, using some fugitive pigments but the charm and extremely fine execution of the work are still very much in evidence.
1

The cartoon measures 1.23 x 1.30 and is presently at the Musee national du Chateau in Compiegne (inv. 3577).

2

The tapestry measures 3.5 x 1.3. All of this information was gleaned from the recent catalogue raisonnee,Thierry Lefrançois, Charles-Antoine Coypel 1694-1752, Paris, 1994, pp. 165-166, p. 25.