CLAUDE HOIN
(Dijon, 1750 – 1817)

Portrait of a Young Man

Black and white chalk on buff paper

 21 x 17 inches (53.3 x 43.2 cm)

Provenance:   

Christie’s, Paris, 27 November 2002, lot 202, as by Claude-Jean-Baptiste Hoin, “Portrait de Jeune Homme en Buste”                       

Private Collection, Beverly Hills, California, until 2023.

During the 18th century, the genre of portrait drawings flourished in France. Often dramatically lit and exhibiting and sometimes exhibiting a particular expression or mood, these works had roots in the French academic tradition, which was focused on the figure. Some of the finest expressions of this tradition were the portrait drawings of Jean Baptiste Greuze, who clearly transmitted his talents to his pupil, Claude Hoin—the author of the present drawing and another distinguished practitioner in this field.

Claude Hoin first received his artistic training in his hometown of Dijon under the architect Claude-François Devosge II. In 1772 he went to Paris to continue his studies under Greuze, and he befriended many of the leading artists of the day, including Fragonard, Hubert Robert, and Labille-Guiard. He took part in the Salon de la Correspondance in 1782 and in 1783, was named official painter to the Comte de Provence (later Louis XVIII) in 1785, exhibited at the Louvre in 1801 and 1802, and later became the curator of the Museum of Dijon.

This sensitive image is a characteristic example of the chalk and pastel drawings for which Claude Hoin is best known, and his adept handling of medium in this portrait demonstrates the skills for which he was acclaimed. It is not surprising that the artist—a dedicated student of human emotions—portrayed a sitter with such feeling. Indeed, the features of the young man are delicately rendered with the face and the eyes slightly turned upward, adding a sense of movement. Fine lines are expertly drawn in thin strokes that follow the direction of the forms they contour—cheeks, forehead, neck—defining the volume of the face. These strokes are contrasted by thick lines that give form to the curls framing the figure’s face and cascading in ripples onto his shoulders. Hoin has given depth to the hair by a selective blending and shading of these undulating lines. An unbuttoned collar highlighted in white anchors the composition, while the loosely-sketched lines of the dark jacket begin to give way and dissolve into the sheet. Like Greuze, Hoin combined in his portrait drawings a striking intimacy and a sense of immediacy that is enhanced by his refined technique.