Charles Le Brun red chalk drawing signed

I’m not going to show the work because it’s still in auction(for obvious reasons) but I believe Charles Le Brun signed this piece. It is absolutely stunning and I will follow up after the auction closes. For now here is the reverse signature.

 

Some more in the corner.

 

Do you have other examples of the siggy to compare?

 

Here is this link of a drawing. Im not finding any signatures like the one you are bidding on. https://www.google.com/amp/s/resear...in-the-battle-against-darius-around-1600/amp/

 

Notice the seraph after the name and compare similarity with seraph in upper left hand corner

 

Notice the similarities of the n and the r coming off the B

 

And the b here the overall slant of the hump. The curvature of the upper loop of the L. The N in the first picture is almost identical to the n in the signature in the bottom picture.

 

There is also a short hesitation stroke between the B and R of Le Brun.

 

There is also a short hesitation stroke between the B and R of Le Brun.

 

Maybe you can see the hesitation stroke better here

 

Notice the first stroke on the u toward the bottom how it tapers slanting toward the right creating a unique shallow L shape.

 

T Aha! Figured out what the watermark in the upper left hand corner means with the dots. The dots signify the number of proposed prints to be made of the finished piece. The article also mentions Le Brun’s blossom cusson pendant watermark.

https://www.luederhniemeyer.com/redseries/files/15272_e.php

 

That is so cool. History is incredible.

 

Watermarks are embedded in the paper. Sometimes they are present, sometimes not. Most are unique to a manufacturer, but some, like the foolscap and the Strasbourg lily, were used with degrees of variation by many different manufactures across many countries. There are thousands of different watermarks, many of which have not been identified, but knowing who made the paper and when can be a step towards validating the veracity of a piece (a far from definitive step - as in the example below).

This etching of Durham cathedral has the watermark of J. Whatman





I think the dates on Whatman paper are when the paper was made, which would be odd since this print was made about 100 years later. Usually dates indicate when the company was founded, but Whatman was the company that invented wove paper in the mid-18th C, so even older than that... and the watermarks on their paper show a multiplicity of dates.

https://vintagepaper.co/blogs/news/drying-paper-at-whatmans-springfield-mill

 

This is my first read of this thread, it sounds like OP is here to convince us that his expectations of an artist's work are valid, without showing the work. I hope you don't invest a fortune into whatever this is..

I cannot possibly guess. The "signatures" do not match at all. One is neatly written in calligraphy style, the other possibly a siggy, but without seeing the art work to compare, it's a "nope not the same signature at all" so please be forewarned to clench your purse tightly, as there are many copiers out there.

Thanks for the paper info, MOS, it will be interesting to see the real work if OP ever shows us.

 

Here is another one that doesn't match up from the British Museum-

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1846-0509-156

 

I see there is a third signature above that doesn't match anything either...

 

It appears as if the damsel is wearing a cat head in her hair. Horses a favorite of Le brun, along with animalian features in human transformation.

 

The bid is up to 4000 GBP