Boy with a Black Spaniel

François Hubert Drouais

ca. 1767 · Oil on canvas · European Paintings

The art critic Denis Diderot rarely praised the popular portraitist Drouais, but admitted that he “paints children well; he infuses their eyes with life, transparency, a moist richness, swimming so that they seem to gaze at you and smile at you at the same time.” Here Drouais paired such eyes with those of a puppy dangling in the child’s arms. This is probably an autograph replica of a painting shown at the Salon of 1767 and dated 1766.

Artist

François Hubert Drouais

Date

ca. 1767

Medium

Oil on canvas

Department

European Paintings

Credit line

The Jules Bache Collection, 1949