© Ader/Drouot
Highlight of the large mixed-owner drawings sale held at Drouot by Ader (28% buyer’s premium inc VAT) on March 29 was an 8¼ x11in (21 x 28cm) pen and wash drawing on paper by Antoine-Jean Gros of a lion hunt.
Like the artist’s sketch of Bucephalus and Alexander (sold in 2017 from the Delestre collection by Artcurial for a premium inclusive €455,400 and now in the Louvre), this freely executed scene shows Gros liberated from the neo-classical constraints of his teacher David and exhibiting early signs of Romanticism. As well as looking forward to the Orientalist works of Delacroix, it harks back to the drawings of Rubens. An estimate of €20,000-30,000 was left far behind as it sold for €180,000 (£153,845).