Pierre Poncet le Jeune: The Charity of Saint Anne

In 2016, the museum attempted to acquire this drawing, then attributed to the Spanish school, but in fact preparatory to an altarpiece painted around 1640 by Orléans-born Pierre Poncet, which was seized during the Revolution and entered the collections of the first museum when it was founded in 1799. This is the only known drawing by Pierre Poncet, and its acquisition today as it has reappeared on the market allows us to document the elaboration of the composition, which includes a few differences in the positioning of the figures receiving alms or in the background.

Pierre Poncet le Jeune, born and active in Orléans in the ^17th century, has been rediscovered thanks to Marie-José Deschamps' work in archives and churches in the Loiret region. His workshop was the main supplier of altar paintings in the region, in a style close to Vouet. From the late 1630s to his death in 1659, Poncet's workshop was almost always called upon when clients did not send for painters or pictures from Paris. The artist is therefore of great interest to the museum, which focuses on his local roots in its hanging and acquisitions policy. The museum also owns five of his paintings, and the department's historic monuments include many altarpieces still in place. Poncet's drawings are still unknown: this sheet is the first and only one in public collections.