Jean Jules Antoine LECOMTE du NOUY (Paris, 1842 - 1923) Draped figure seen from behind Canvas Inscriptions at the top left: "To this old [sic] scoundrel Benoist / Lecomte Dunouy". On the back, on the frame, an inscription in pencil: "Lecomte". 80,7 x 64,7 cm Exhibition: Draped. Degas, Christo, Michelangelo, Rodin, Man Ray, Dürer..., Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, 30 November 2019-8 March 2020, cat. 60. Bibliography: Cat. exp. Draped. Degas, Christo, Michelangelo, Rodin, Man Ray, Dürer..., Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, 30 November 2019-8 March 2020, cited p. 141, reproduced P. 145. Although undated, our picture was certainly painted during the artist's formative years, probably before 1865. This draped figure, though depicted on the opposite side and with a different subject matter, is reminiscent of the artist's first Greek Revival work, Greek Sentinel (Salon 1865, location unknown). His studio mates had liked one of his sketches so much that they urged him to make a painting of it. Lecomte du Nouÿ was reluctant to spend money on a model, so his friends posed for him: Loustaunau for the hands, Lehoux for the arms and a third, unknown, for the drapery. Perhaps it is Benoist to whom this work is dedicated.