The present work was part of the collection of Hippolyte Gosse, one of Geneva’s most fascinating collectors who was described as one of the “most original figures” of the country. Son of the doctor Louis-André Gosse and Blanche Victorine Cécile Le Texier, Hippolyte Gosse studied in Paris, where he obtained his doctorate in 1863. Returning to Geneva, he married Marie Kossikovsky in 1872. From this union was born their daughter Élisabeth Gosse. Hippolyte Gosse was appointed professor of forensic medicine in Geneva in 1875 and held this position until his death in 1901. However, it was his passion for archaeology, history, culture, and art that cemented his memory in Geneva. Hippolyte Gosse was director of the Musée archéologique and the Musée épigraphique of Geneva from 1872, and curator of the Salle des armures at the Musée d’art et d’histoire. Throughout his life, Hippolyte Gosse was curious, scholarly, and a “great collector of ideas, papers, and things”: he amassed a massive art collection.

Charles de La Fosse was born into a family of goldsmiths in Paris and was introduced to painting by his father, a jeweler. In 1654-1655, he joined the prestigious workshop of Charles Le Brun. Under the influence of the latter’s classicism, Charles de La Fosse became one of his most renowned disciples. Thanks to his trip to Italy, supported by Louis XIV, he studied the works of the great Italian masters. Upon his return to France in 1664, he worked on various prestigious projects, including the Palais des Tuileries and Les Invalides, and was quickly recognized as one of the most talented painters of his time: he became a member of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture in 1673 and professor in 1674. Charles de La Fosse spent his final years at the home of collector Pierre Crozat, working with renowned artists, including Antoine Watteau, and continued to practice his art until his death in 1716. The present drawing is a preparatory study of a male figure for an unidentified work. Of high quality, the sheet displays all the stylistic characteristics of Charles de La Fosse, notably with these marked hatchings, the body with muscles made visible by the work of shadows and lights, as well as the crumpled drapery with hollows marked by shadows, in black stone and red chalk.

We thank Dr Clémentine Gustin-Gomez for confirming the attribution to Charles de La Fosse based on a photograph.