Drawing of Putti in the Clouds 
Jean-Jacques le Barbier l'Ainé (France, 1738-1826)
Black pencil on paper
Signed and dated lower left "Le Barbier L'ainé 1816" 
10 1/4 x 12 1/4 inches with frame
 
Jean-Jacques François Le Barbier, called Le Barbier l’aîné (the Elder), demonstrated artistic talent at a young age, winning two first prizes at the École des Beaux-Arts of Rouen at seventeen. He moved from his native Rouen to Paris at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. Between 1761 and 1768, he traveled extensively in Italy. In Switzerland in 1776, he worked on Zurlauben’s travel guide, executing drawings of views, monuments, and costumes.
 
 After returning to Paris, he was elected to the Academy in 1780, and became an Academician in 1785, exhibiting regularly at the Salon between 1781 and 1814. In the period between 1806 and 1810 he focused on religious themes and subjects of Royalist inspiration. 
 
Without question, one of his most famous works is  the panel with the Declaration of the rights of men and citizens as it had been decreed by the Assemblée Nationale in 1789 and agreed to by King Louis XVI (Musée Carnavalet, Paris). 
 
Public collections include Minneapolis, Met Museum, Louvre, MFA Houston, British Museum, etc., etc., etc.,