79. Jean Francois Pierre Peyron (Aix-en-Provence 1744-1814 Paris) Cornélie, mère des Gracques porte une signature 'L. David' (en bas à droite) huile sur toile bears a signature 'L. David' (lower right) oil on canvas 24.7 x 32.5cm (9 3/4 x 12 13/16in). Provenance Probably Sale, Valence, 1803, no 28 (see Literature) Sale, Dorotheum, Vienna, 29 June 2022, lot 211, where purchased by the present owner Private collection, Spain Literature Probably P. Rosenberg and U. Sandt, Pierre Peyron (1744-1814), Paris, 1983, p. 97, no 54 The present work is one of the sketches for Peyron's final painting of the same subject, now in the Musée des Augustins, Toulouse (inv. 2004 1 261; 194 (Ro)), realised in 1778, whilst in Rome, for the French Ambassador, the Cardinal de Bernis. The scene, drawn from Valerius Maximus (Book IV, Chapter 4), shows Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi, presenting her children as her true jewels in response to a Campanian lady's display of ornaments. Peyron contrasts the visitor's wealth, conveyed through the vivid colours of her dress and that of her kneeling attendant, with the subdued tones of Cornelia and her children, enlivened only by the rose-tinted cloak of the boy in the foreground. The clarity and firmness of line attest to the artist's admiration for Antiquity. Another preparatory study for the composition is also preserved in the Musée des Augustins, Toulouse (inv. 2009 1 1; SANS NO 50, see P. Rosenberg and U. Sandt, Pierre Peyron (1744-1814), Paris, 1983, p. 97, no 53). We are grateful to Francois Marandet for confirming the attribution to Jean François Pierre Peyron.