After Charles Le Brun Physiognomy Study of Ears

An original 18th-century chalk drawing, After Charles Le Brun, Physiognomy Study of Ears.

A wonderful 18th-century drawing in sanguine red chalk on Van der Lay laid paper.

Annotation in French on a historic mount (no longer extant) indicates that the drawing is likely French in origin. The watermark with fleur-de-lis and letters VDL indicate the Dutch papermaker Van der Lay. It is believed that they started using the monogram in watermarks shortly before 1750 (Henk Voorn, De papiermolens in de provincie Noord-Holland).

The ear studies appear to be a copy after the French painter and physiognomist Charles Le Brun (1619–1690), who produced a drawing manual on human emotions that has been used for centuries by artists and students as a model for depicting facial expressions. Le Brun's approach was insistently scientific, drawing on the work of the philosopher René Descartes to better understand what causes expressions in the first place.

This is one of two 18th-century French sanguine studies that we have for sale (see stock number KB-266).