Graphic Art

This magnificent pastel painting depicts Madame de Bled sitting in a armchair. She is adorned in a beautiful silk dress with a plethora of blue ribbons, as well as a delicate lace headdress, representing the fashion of the late Louis XV and early Louis XVI eras. Crafted by an unidentified but skilled artist, this portrait from approximately 1770 includes a gilded wooden frame and has been meticulously restored. The pastel on paper is mounted on acid-free cardboard and is accompanied by an original handwritten biography of the subject.

Marie Elisabeth Anne de Bled was born in Quebec, Canada, on 13 February 1720. She was daughter of Charles de Bled, a royal surveyor from Normandy, France. Orphaned of father at the age of 5 and of mother at 14, she married before her 15th birthday to the merchant Jean Baptiste de Lagroix, 13 years her senior, with whom she had three children. Widowed in 1747, she remarried on 23 October 1753 (and not in 1750 as the label indicates) to Jean François Jacquelin, merchant and shipowner, with whom she had a son. The family relocated to France in 1766, after the cession of Quebec to Great Britain, and settled in La Rochelle, where Elisabeth de Bled died on 29 April 1798, aged 78.

Source: Archives de France.

Artist: Unknown (unsigned).
Medium: Pastel on paper.
Condition Excellent condition.
Dimensions : 58 x 48 cm. / 22 3/4 x19 in.
Frame: 72 x 62 cm. / 28 1/4 x 24 1/2 in. Gilt wood, very good condition.
Origin: France.

Rare set of six portraits representing Napoleon and other characters made in Paris between 1804 and 1815 by an unknown engraver. Good condition, with some signs of wear. All portraits are numbered. The Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris has three of these portraits and the National Portrait Gallery in London, one.

The characters, represented clockwise with text indicating their titles, are:

- Napoleon I / Emperor of the French, King of Italy / Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine.
- Napoleon Louis / French Prince / Royal Prince of Holland / Grand Duke of Berg and Cleves.
- Joachim Murat / Brother-in-law of H.M. / Grand Admiral of France / King of Naples and Sicily.
- Eugène Napoléon / French Prince / Archchancellor of State / Viceroy of Italy / Prince of Venice.
- Masséna / Duke of Rivoli / Marshal of the Empire.
- Ney / Duke of Elchingen / Marshal of the Empire.

References: Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris; Archives de France.

Artist: Unknown 
Medium: Engraving on paper.
Condition: Good condition.
Dimensions: 9 x 7 cm / 3 ½ x 2 ¾ in. (each).
Frame: 31.5 x 38 cm / 11 ½ x 15 in. Giltwood. Very good condition.
Origin: France.

Beautiful original black and white lithograph by Achille Devéria (Paris, 1800-1857) printed by Lemercier Benard et Cie in 1838 in Paris. It represents a real scene from the life of the Italian painter Salvator Rosa (1615-1673), where he is captured by a band of Neapolitan bandits and paints the portrait of the chief's wife. French text: " ROSA (Salvator) Le peintre tombe au pouvoir d'une troupe de Brigands Napolitains, fait le portrait de la maîtresse de leur chef ". This lithograph is stamped with the dry-stamp technique with initials FB, corresponding to François Bulla (1794-1853), one of the most important publishers of engravings in Paris, specializing in popular lithographs. Very good condition, with minor rubbing on the right and lower margins. 

Achille Devéria was an illustrator, painter, watercolourist, engraver, draughtsman, lithographer and curator in the print department of the Bibliothèque nationale, Paris. The son of a French naval officer, he began his artistic studies at an early age as a pupil of the painter Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson, and then of Louis Lafitte. At the age of 22, Devéria was already invited to participate in the great Paris Salon exhibition of 1822, where he was very successful.

From 1830 onwards, Devéria devoted himself mainly to lithography, depicting a whole series of characters, especially women, immortalised in the typical costumes of the time, as well as events of his time, which constitute a kind of historical album of the Romantic movement and era. He was one of the most famous portraitists of his time. Many personalities of the time posed for him in his Paris studio on Rue de l'Ouest, including Honoré de Balzac, Charles Baudelaire, Jacques Louis David, Marie Dorval, Alexandre Dumas, Théodore Géricault, Victor Hugo, Alphonse de Lamartine, Franz Liszt, Prosper Mérimée, Alfred de Musset, Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve, Sir Walter Scott, Alfred de Vigny and many others.

In 1849, Devéria was appointed director of the print department of the Bibliothèque nationale and assistant curator of the Egyptology department of the Louvre. Devéria spent his last years travelling in Egypt, where he drew and transcribed inscriptions. In the autumn of 1857, he returned from his travels ill and died in Paris a few weeks later.

His works are exhibited in the Louvre, the San Francisco Museum of Fine Arts, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Norton Simon Museum and the University of Liege.

The company Lemercier, Bénard et cie was founded in 1837 by the printer Joseph Lemercier (1803-1887) and the engraver Jean François Bénard (1796-1859). It was active until 1843.

Sources: Laure Beaumont-Maillet (1985). "Achille Devéria. Achille Devéria, witness of Parisian romanticism; Maximilien Gauthier (1925). H. Floury (1925) Achille et Eugène Devéria, Paris; Ricochet-jeunes.org; Dictionnaire des Imprimeurs-lithographes du XIXème siècle, ENC; Archives de France.

Artist: Achille Devéria (1800-1857).
Medium: lithograph on paper.
Condition: Very good condition.
Dimensions: 49 x 38.5 / 19 ¼ x 15 ¼ in. (sheet) – 38 x 28.5 cm / 15 x 11 ¼ in.(image).
Frame: 59.5 x 49 cm. / 23 ½ x 19 ¼ in. Wood, glass, very good condition.
Origin: France.

This is an original engraving of a bust portrait depicting Antoine Court de Gébelin (1725-1784), a French Protestant theologian, mythologist, and grammarian. Created in 1776 by expert Antoine Louis Romanet, after collaborating with Mlle. Linot. The bottom is inscribed with: "A Paris chez Romanet rue de la Harpe vis a vis les Jacobins".

Antoine Court de Gibelin was born near Nîmes on 5 September 1728 and died in Paris on 12 May 1784 at the age of 59. He was the son of pastor and theology professor Antoine Court, founder of the Séminaire de Lausanne, a clandestine establishment where future French pastors were trained (Protestantism had been banned there since the revocation of the Edict of Nantes). A physiocrat thinker and freemason, he was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Académie des belles-lettres, sciences et arts de La Rochelle and the Académie des sciences, belles-lettres et arts de Rouen.

Antoine-Louis Romanet (Paris, 7 January 1742 - Saint-Maurice, 1 April 1807) was a French draughtsman, engraver and miniature painter. He was the cousin of the wife of the engraver Jean-Georges Wille (1715-1808), who trained him in the art of engraving. He exhibited at the Salon de la Correspondance from 1779 to 1787.

Sources: Wikipedia; Archives de France.

Artist: Antoine-Louis Romanet (1742-1807)
Medium: Etching on laid paper.
Condition: Very good condition.
Dimensions: 35 x 26 cm. / 13 ¾ x 10 ¼ in. (sheet). 27 x 19 cm. / 10 ½ x 7 ½ in. (plate).
Frame: 43 x 33 cm. / 17 x 13 in. New, classic style, acid-free matting and glass.
Origin: France.

 

Portrait of M François de Salignac de la Mothe Fénelon, Archbishop Duke of Cambray, Prince of the Holy Empire, Count of Cambrésis. Etching after Joseph Vivien, by St. Aubin.

François de Salignac de la Mothe Fénelon was born at Fénelon castle, in Périgord, on August 6, 1651. In 1689 he became Tutor to the Dauphin, the duke of Burgundy, grandson of Louis XIV. He was appointed archbishop of Cambrai in 1695.

Fénelon preached at the age of fifteen, was a religious writer and a mystical Christian philosopher. He left fifty-five works, of which at least two place him at the forefront of French literature: The Treatise on the Existence of God and Telemachus. Friend of Bossuet, he was later embroiled in a controversy with him which lasted three years and at the end of which he succumbed to the accusation of quietism brought against him by his terrible adversary; condemned by the court of Rome, Fénelon accepted this judgment with admirable humility (1699). He was exiled from the court and retired to his archbishopric; sick from the concussion felt in a car accident, he died six days later, on January 8, 1715. His eulogy was written by La Harpe and Alembert. The Scotsman Ramsay, Cardinal de Bausset and Abbé Gosselin each wrote a History of Fénelon.

Augustin de Saint-Aubin (Paris, January 3, 1736 - Paris, November 9, 1808) was a French painter and printmaker. Member of a family of artists, he was the son of Gabriel-Germain de Saint-Aubin, embroiderer, and brother of Gabriel-Jacques de Saint-Aubin, Charles-Germain de Saint-Aubin and Louis-Michel de Saint-Aubin, all artists. He was first trained with his older brother Gabriel, then studied with Étienne Fessard (1755) and Laurent Cars (1764). He worked with Michelangelo Slodtz on "The Little Pleasures of the King". He devoted himself mainly to drawing and engraving, working as a chronicler of the society of his time: Concert, Bal de Gala (1773). He created a gallery of medallion portraits of famous people from Antiquity to his time. In 1777, he was appointed engraver of the Royal Library.

Sources: Académie française; Enciclopedia del Arte Garzanti, 1991.

Artist: Augustin de Saint-Aubin (1736-1808).
Medium: Copper etching.
Condition: Very good condition.
Dimensions: 30 x 20 cm. / 12 x 8 in. (sheet); 23 x 16 cm. / 9 x 6 1/4 in. (view).
Frame: 36 x 29 cm. / 14 ¼ x 11 ½ in. Black wood, classic style.
Origin: France.  

 

 

 

 

 

Original intaglio print titled La demande acceptée (The Request Granted), after Nicolas-Bernard Lépicié Paris, 1735-1784). Engraved by Charles-Clément Bervic, engraver of the King and the Royal Academies of Paris and Rouen.

Rustic interior with young man sitting next to a woman and asking for her daughter's hand in marriage; the daughter stands next to her mother while the father and the other children are sitting on the right. – Beneath the image, on either side of a cartouche with coat of arms, a dedication (in French) reads:” Dedicated to His Serene Electoral Highness Monsignor Charles Théodore, // Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Upper and Lower Bavaria Archidapifer and Elector of the Holy Empire, Duke of Juliers, Cleve and Berg ... By ... Ch. Cl. Bervic”.

Charles Clément Balvay (23 May 1756, Paris – 23 March 1822, Paris), known as Bervic, was a French engraver mainly working in intaglio and exclusively in burin. He served his first apprenticeship under Jean-Baptiste Le Prince, then left aged 14 for the studio of the engraver Jean-Georges Wille. When he was 18, he won first prize for drawing at the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, of which he was elected a member in 1784. He became a member of the Académie des beaux-arts in 1803. He won many prizes and his drawing talents were particularly appreciated.

Jean-Charles Damour (1731-?) was an intaglio printer in Paris.

Sources: British Museum; BNF; Archives de France.

Artist: Charles-Clément Balvay, dit Bervic (1756-1822).
Medium: Engraving, mounted on cardboard
Condition: Very good condition.
Dimensions: 63 x 73.5 cm. / 22 ¾ x 29 in. (sheet) / 50 x 62.7 cm. – 19 ¾ x 24 ½ in. (image).
Frame: 76 x 85 cm. / 30 x 33 ½ in. Gilt wood, matting and glass.
Origin: France. 

 

Frontispiece of the first volume of The Law of War and Peace, Divided into Three Books by Hugo Grotius (1583-1645) and translated from Latin into French by Antoine de Courtin (1622-1685), with an allegorical representation with the bust of King Louis XIV, who is glorified there. Title, with vignette, and signed by P. Sevin and C. Vermeulen and dated 1687. Note that this frontispiece does not appear in the successive editions of 1688, 1703, 1746, 1759 and 1768.

Cornelis Vermeulen or Cornelis Martinus Vermeulen was a 17th century Flemish engraver, born around 1644 in Antwerp in the province of Flanders in Belgium. He trained in Peeter Clouwet's studio. He worked many times in Paris during short stays but without really settling in the French capital. His portrait engravings and book illustrations made him famous. He died around 1708 in Antwerp.

Pierre-Paul Sevin was born May 8, 1646 in Tournon-sur-Rhône (Ardèche) and died in the same city on February 2, 1710. He was a history painter and illustrator of allegorical compositions in the reign of Louis XIV. Born into a family of painters and first trained by his father, Pierre-Paul Sevin became a distinguished painter, decorator, illustrator and scenographer. On the death of his father, the young artist entered the Jesuit college in Lyon where he met Claude-François Ménestrier (1631-1705) and forged a long friendship with him. On the recommendation of Ménestrier, and with the help of the royal painter Charles Le Brun, Sevin was made a resident of the French Academy in Rome, recently created by King Louis XIV in 1666. While in Rome, Sevin documented into drawings many events that took place in the city, for which he also provided his own decorative motifs. In Venice, he recorded important processions and festivities that took place in the Lagoon during the first years of the 1670s. On his return to Paris, Sevin, in collaboration with Ménestrier, obtained numerous royal commissions, providing designs for ceremonial decorations for births, weddings, funerals and princely entrances.

Sources: Benezit Dictionary of Artists, 1999 Edition; Bibliotheca Visseriana, 1925; Archives de France.

Artists: Cornelis Vermeulen (1644-1708) and Pierre-Paul Sevin (1646-1710).
Signed and dated 1687.
Medium: Etching on paper.
Condition: Very good condition.
Dimensions: 25 x 18.7 cm. / 9 ¾ x 7 ½ in. (sheet).
Frame: 52 x 47 cm. / 20 ½ x 18 ½ in. Wood, very good condition.
Origin: France.

Beautiful drawing on paper pasted to cardboard depicting various workers in a cereal or carob warehouse, with some sack seamstresses and a little girl in the foreground, probably in Algiers, where the artist resided between 1910 and 1920. Traces of a signature in the lower right corner.

Edouard-Emmanuel-Charles Pannetier, Provençal and Orientalist painter, was born on November 6, 1884 in Clermont-Ferrand (Auvergne). He began his artistic studies at the École des Beaux-Arts in his home town and later at the École des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. Trained as a drawing teacher, he worked for a few years in Algeria at the Lamoricière Lyceum in Oran between 1910 and 1920. Back in France, he worked as a drawing teacher at the Lycée d'Aix-en-Provence around 1930. He painted many landscapes and genre scenes from Algeria and Provence. He also illustrated several literary works, among them the novel "Atala" by Chateaubriand in its 1946 edition. Pannetier died in Rueil-Malmaison, near Paris, on October 14, 1965, at the age of 80.

Sources: Archives de France.

Artist: Edouard Pannetier (1884-1965).
Signed lower right.
Material: Charcoal and pastel on paper.
Condition: Very good condition.
Size: 52 x 44 cm / 20 ½ x 17 ½ in.
Frame: 69.5 x 61.5 cm / 27 ¼ x 24 ¼ in. Wood and gesso, very good condition.
Origin: France.

Engraved portrait by Gérard Edelinck (Antwerp 1640 - Paris 1707) after Hyacinthe Rigaud (1659-1743), representing Charles d’Hozier (Paris 1640-1732), juge d’armes (court heraldist) and the King’s genealogist in 1691. This portrait draws together all the characteristics of the portrait d’apparat, reserved for the monarchy, the nobility and the upper middle class: grandiose presentation with curtains, columns and classical dress, imposing posture of the character, who lays his right hand on what is probably his most important work.

The following text appears below the image: “Mre. Charles d’Hozier, Coner. Du Roi, Généalogiste de sa Maison, Juge gñal des Armes, et des Blazons de France et Chtr de la Religion, et des Ordres Militaires de St Maurice, et de St Lazare de Savoie, agé de 50 ans, et fils du célèbre Mre Pierre d’Hozier / Hiacinthus Rigaud pinxit ; G. Édelinck sculpsit C.P.R. 1691”. 

Gérard Edelinck born October 20, 1640 in Antwerp (Belgium) was a French engraver of Flemish origin. He was an apprentice of Gaspar Huberti (Huybrechts) and of Cornelius Galle the Younger, a renowned engraver from Antwerp. He moved to Paris where he studied and worked under the wing of well-known artists such as the painters Philippe de Champaigne and Charles Le Brun and the engraver Robert Nanteuil. Named by Louis XIV Knight of the Order of Saint Michel and Engraver of the King, he was already a professor at the small academy created at the Gobelins factory for the instruction of upholsterers. In 1672, he married Madeleine Reguesson, Nantreuil’s niece, with Charles le Brun and Philippe de Champaigne as witnesses. Gérard Edelinck was one of the most remarkable engravers of the 18th century and made a significant contribution to the art of engraving. It was he who first substituted diamond-shaped dimensions for square dimensions and who infused engravings with colour. He treated the works he reproduced with a little more realism, but preserved the softness of the art of Nanteuil. His output totals over 300 pieces. Edelinck died in Paris on April 2, 1707, at the age of 66.

Source: Benezit Dictionary of Artists.

Artist: Gérard Edelinck (1640-1707).
Signed in bottom right corner: G. Edelinck Sculp C.P.R. 1691.
Medium: Line engraving on paper.
Condition: Very good condition. Restored.
Dimensions: 47 x 35 cm. / 18 ½ x 13 ¾ in.
Frame: 62 x 50 cm. / 24 ½ x 19 ½ in. Gilt wood, good general condition. A few small imperfections. New mat and museum glass.
Origin: France.

  

 

 

Jean-Baptiste-Michel Colbert de Saint-Pouange was a French man of the cloth. Born in Paris in 1640, appointed councillor-clerk in the Paris parliament since April 1, 1667, he became, on August 3, 1668, a canon "of this Church", and was ordained on October 5, 1670. He was appointed by King Louis XIV the diocese of Montauban on November 22, 1674. There he worked on the construction of a new general hospital "Hôtel-Dieu" in the north of the city, and began the construction of the new cathedral. He also completed the construction of a new diocese (the current Ingres Museum), which served as the episcopal palace until 1790. Appointed Gérard Edelinck served as the Archbishop of Toulouse from 1640-1707. on August 15, 1687, he established the Sisters of Saint Vincent de Paul there, and the Saint-Lazare Mission Seminary. In 1680, he began the construction of the new archiepiscopal palace of Toulouse. He died on July 11, 1710, in Paris.

Gérard Edelinck born October 20, 1640 in Antwerp (Belgium) was a French engraver of Flemish origin. He was an apprentice of Gaspar Huberti (Huybrechts) and of Cornelius Galle the Younger, a renowned engraver from Antwerp. He moved to Paris where he studied and worked under the wing of well-known artists such as the painters Philippe de Champaigne and Charles Le Brun and the engraver Robert Nanteuil. Named by Louis XIV Knight of the Order of Saint Michel and Engraver of the King, he was already a professor at the small academy created at the Gobelins factory for the instruction of upholsterers. In 1672, he married Madeleine Reguesson, Nantreuil’s niece, with Charles le Brun and Philippe de Champaigne as witnesses. Gérard Edelinck was one of the most remarkable engravers of the 18th century and made a significant contribution to the art of engraving. It was he who first substituted diamond-shaped dimensions for square dimensions and who infused engravings with colour. He treated the works he reproduced with a little more realism, but preserved the softness of the art of Nanteuil. His output totals over 300 pieces. Edelinck died in Paris on April 2, 1707, at the age of 66.

Sources: Archives généalogiques et historiques de la noblesse de France, vol. 3,1830; Benezit Dictionary of Artists; Archives de France.

Artist: Gérard Edelinck (1640-1707).
Signed et dated: G. Edelinck Sculp. 1693.
Medium: Etching on paper glued to cardboard.
Condition: Very good condition.
Dimensions: 26.5 x 21 cm / 10 ½ x 8 ¼ in. (sheet); 25 x 20 cm. / 9 ¾ x 8 in. (view).
Frame: 38 x 31 cm. / 15 x 12 ¼ in. Carved wood, very good condition.
Origin: France.

Singular double engraving, showing on the left the Bishop of Meaux, Bossuet (after the original painting by Rigaud), and on the right, the Archbishop of Cambrai, Fénelon (after the original painting by Vivien). This double engraving certainly relates to the famous theological dispute between the two clergymen. Bossuet entered into a bitter conflict with Fénelon and persecuted his adversary with special wickedness to the point of finally causing him to fall out of favour with the king, who exiled him. He also obtained the condemnation by the Pope of the “Maxims of the Saints”, written by Fénelon.

Louis-Jacques Cathelin, born in Paris in 1738 and died in the same city in 1804, was a French engraver. He began in 1762 as a pupil of Jacques-Philippe Le Bas and very quickly excelled in representing the portraits of notable figures in the narrow frame of a medallion. He was admitted to the Academy in 1777. He produced portraits of court figures, scholars, artists and politicians. After a hiatus during the revolutionary period, he produced, from the year VIII, portraits which appeared for books.

Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, born September 27, 1627 in Dijon and died April 12, 1704 in Paris, was a man of the Church, bishop and French writer. A renowned preacher from early in his career, he gave sermons and funeral orations which remain eminent to this day. He was the author of an abundant written work on spirituality, responsible for the instruction of the king’s eldest son, the anti-Protestant controversy and various other controversies, including that which opposed him to Fenelon on the subject of Quietism.

François de Salignac de La Mothe-Fénelon, or Fénelon, was born August 6, 1651 at the Château de Fénelon in Sainte-Mondane (Quercy, now Dordogne) and died January 7, 1715 in Cambrai. He was a man of the Church and theologian, a French teacher and writer. Tutor to the Duke of Burgundy, Archbishop of Cambrai (1695-1715), he opposed Bossuet and fell into disgrace during the quarrel over Quietism, and above all, after the publication of his novel, Les Aventures de Télémaque (1699), considered a criticism of the politics of Louis XIV and whose literary influence was considerable for more than two centuries. Fénelon also wrote several other works concerning education or didactics.

Sources: Benezit Oxford Art Online; Wikipedia.

Artist: Louis-Jacques Cathelin (1738-1804).
Medium: Etching.
Condition: Excellent condition.
Dimensions: 22.5 x 29 cm. / 9 x 11 ½ in. (sheet) / 15 x 21 cm. / 6 x 8 ¼ in. (image).
Frame: 33 x 38 cm. / 13 x 15 in. Wood, acid-free matting, glass.
Origin: France.

Bust engraving of Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orleans, represented in a ceremonial costume reserved for deputies of the Order of the Nobility: a black cloth cloak over a formal suit, gold cloth trim over the cloak, a lace tie and a Henri IV-style white feather hat. The portrait is set in an oval frame topped with garlands of oak leaves.

The following title appears in French under the frame: “Louis Phil. Joseph, Duke of Orleans. Member of Parliament for Crépy en Valois. Born April 13, 1747. General collection of Portraits of the Members the National Assembly held in Versailles on May 4, 1789. In Paris at Le Vachez under the Colonnades of the Royal Palace nº 258”.

Louis-Philippe-Joseph (1747-1793), Duke of Chartres, then of Orléans (1785-90), descended from the royal Bourbon family, yet became a supporter of popular democracy during the 1789 Revolution. He was the great-great-grandson of Philippe I, duc d'Orléans (1640-1701), younger brother of Louis XIV, and the great-grandson of Philippe II, duc d'Orléans (1674-1703), who as regent for Louis XV endeavored to secure his own secession over that of Philip V of Spain. Louis-Philippe-Joseph's own son Louis-Philippe reigned as King following the July Revolution of 1830. Louis-Philippe-Joseph was Louis XVI's cousin, but lived away from the royal court at Versailles due to his hostility toward the King's wife, Marie-Antoinette. Louis-Philippe-Joseph supported the underprivileged Third Estate and was considered a hero by the revolutionaries; after the fall of the monarchy in August 1792, he renounced his noble title and accepted the name Philippe Égalité. He was elected to the National Convention, and voted for the execution of Louis XVI. Nonetheless, Égalité himself was sent to the guillotine in 1793, accused of conspiring with his son, the future King, and Austrian accomplices.

Nicolas-François Le Vachez (1740-180.?), French engraver and intaglio printer. Born in Saint-Jean-les-Deux-Jumeaux, he resided in Paris from 1757. He became a print publisher from around 1778 and was still active in 1802. Associated from around 1789 with his son Charles-François-Gabriel Le Vachez (1760-1841), engraver and print publisher until under the French Restoration. They signed as Le Vachez, or Levachez fils, but it is impossible to differentiate their works. A Charles Levacher died in Paris on January 31, 1841 (Civil status: returned Parisian); it may be him. Not to be confused, in any case, with the bookseller Levacher, active in Paris from 1792 to 1810.

Sources: British Museum; BNF; Archives de France.

Artist: Nicolas-François Le Vachez / Charles-François-Gabriel Le Vachez.
Medium: Engraving.
Condition: Very good condition.
Dimensions: 28.5 x 22 cm / 11 ¼ x 8 ½ in. (sheet). 25 x 19 cm. / 10 x 7 ½ in. (visible).
Frame: 38 x 33 cm. / 15 x 13 in. Gilt wood (classic style), glass and acid-free mat.
Origin: France.

Portrait of an attractive blue-eyed woman. Pastel on paper adhered to cardboard. Signed and dated 1919.

August Paul Beckert was a German portrait and church painter. He was born on 17 December 1856 in Lichtenstein (Saxony). He was the son of a master tailor. From 1869 to 1873 he attended secondary school in Chemnitz. He then studied at the Art Academy in Dresden with Theodor Grosse, continued studying in Berlin and Stuttgart and from 11 February 1881 at the Royal Academy of Arts in Munich with Wilhelm von Lindensch the Younger, Sándor Wagner and Gyula Benczúr.

During his study trips to Italy, he visited the Pontificium Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum in Rome, where he converted to the Catholic faith, and in 1898 and 1899 he produced two paintings for the college.

Paul Beckert married Annie Leontine von Frank in 1885, through whom he found access to the circles of the German high aristocracy. After the death of his first wife, he married Elisabeth Haenlein in 1907. On 14 June 1904 he was made a Knight of the Holy Order of Sylvester by Pope Pius X.

Paul Beckert painted mainly portraits of noble personages, as well as altarpieces and other church images. Among his most notable portraits are those of Emperor Wilhelm II and Empress Victoria Augusta, Prince Bismark, Field Marshal Moltke, Pope Pius X, the future Reich Chancellor Georg von Hertling and the painting entitled The Last Signature of Emperor Wilhelm I. Many of his works were lost during the Second World War.

Paul Becker died on 22 September 1922 during a stay at a spa in Olsberg (North Rhine-Westphalia).

Sources: Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart; Benezit; Deutsche Biographie: Wikipedia.

Artist: Paul Beckert (1856-1922).
Signed and dated in the lower left corner.
Technique: Pastel on paper.
Condition: Very good condition.
Dimensions: 44,5 x 34 cm. / 17 ½ x 13 ½ in.
Frame: 72 x 64 cm. / 28 ¼ x 25 ¼ in. Gilded and ebonised wood. Good condition.
Origin: France.

This is an antique portrait engraving featuring General Charles Pichegru during the French Revolution in circa 1798. It was created by Philippe Lefèvre and printed by the printer Robert Lefèvre after a painting by Hilaire Ledru. Lost caption below: "Sold in Paris at Potrelle Md. D'estampes Rue Honoré N°54".

Jean-Charles Pichegru, born in Planches-près-Arbois (Franche-Comté) on February 16, 1761, was a distinguished major-general during the French Revolutionary Wars. In 1789 he was a non-commissioned officer in an artillery regiment. He moved quickly up the ranks, from brigadier general to major-general. Under his command, French troops overran Belgium and the Netherlands before fighting on the Rhine front. He headed the Army of the Rhine and Moselle’s campaign to secure the French frontier at the Rhine and to penetrate the German states. The unsuccessful 1795 campaign led to his removal from command. His royalist positions led to his loss of power and imprisonment in Cayenne, French Guiana during the Coup of 18 Fructidor in 1797. After escaping into exile in London and joining the staff of Alexander Korsakov, he returned to France and planned the Pichegru Conspiracy to remove Napoleon from power, which led to his arrest. He was found strangled in prison on April 6, 1804. Despite his defection, his surname is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, on Column 3.

Philippe Lefèvre, painter and engraver, was born in Abbeville and worked in Paris between the years 1770-1810. He engraved historical portraits.

Hilaire Ledru, was born February 19, 1769 in Oppy (Pas-de-Calais) and died May 2, 1840 in Paris. He was a French painter and draughtsman, best known for his portraits of Republican and Napoleonic generals. He exhibited a drawing of Napoleon at the Salon of 1796.

Source: Benezit, Dictionary of Artists; Wikipedia; Galerie historique de la Révolution française 1789-1793, Paris, 1849; Archives de France.

Artist: Philippe Lefèvre (actif 1770-1810).
Medium: Engraving on paper.
Condition: Very good condition.
Dimensions: 28 x 18 cm. / 11 x 7 in.
Frame: 41.5 x 31 cm. / 16 ¼ x 11 ¼ in. Gilt wood, very good condition.
Origin: France.

Magnificent allegorical scene representing a young woman with an arrow, possibly Venus. This burin engraving, after a work by the French painter and engraver Pierre Bouillon (1776-1831), is originally titled in French "Il n'est plus tems". It is dedicated to His Excellency the Count of Cobenzl, referencing Johann Philipp, Graf von Cobenzl (May 28, 1741 - August 30, 1810), statesman of the Habsburg monarchy and the Austrian Empire. Between 1801 and 1805 he was the Austrian ambassador in Paris. The coat of arms belongs to the Cobenzl family. This work was registered at France’s National Library on 16 Ventose Year 12 (Republican calendar), i.e. March 7, 1804.

Pierre Audouin, (Paris, 1768 – Paris, July 22, 1822), was a French draughtsman and burin engraver. He studied under Beauvarlet, and engraved some of the Italian and Dutch masters' most captivating works for Laurent's Musée Français. He was influenced by the School of David. During the Empire period, he was awarded the title of engraver to Madame Mère, Letizia Bonaparte. He participated in the Livre du Sacre de l'Empereur (Book of the Coronation of the Emperor), 1804, creating three engravings after Jean-Baptiste Isabey. Subsequently, after the Restoration, he engraved the portraits of the princes of the royal family and of the main personalities of the time, including Wellington and Marmont, which earned him the title of engraver in ordinary to the King. He engraved paintings by Correggio, Raphaël, Eustache Lesueur, among others, works which made him a very fashionable artist in his day.

Sources: G. Dugnot et P. Sanchez, Dictionnaire de graveurs, illustrateurs et affichistes, V.1, L’Échelle de Jacob Publishers, 2001; Dictionnaire des artistes de l’école française, V.1; Benezit, Dictionary of Artists.

Artist: Pierre Audouin (1768–1822).
Medium: Engraving on paper
Condition: Excellent condition.
Dimensions (plate): 48 x 34 cm. / 19 x 13 ½ in.
Frame: 67 x 54 cm. / 26 ¼ x 21 ¼ in. Gilt wood.
Origin: France.

 

Etching representing a portrait of Pierre VI Gilbert de Voisins, bust directed to the left, smiling, wearing a long, powdered wig and cravat. In an oval frame, made in 1771 by Pierre Charles Lévêque, after Duplessis. 

Pierre VI Gilbert de Voisins (Paris, August 13, 1684 - April 20, 1769), lord of Voisins, Haute-Isle and Chantenesle (Mantois), marquis de Villennes, lord of Mauger, Bouconvillers, Châtelain de Villennes and de Médan, King's Advocate at Châtelet (1703), adviser to Parliament (1707), master of requests (1711), member of the Finance Council (1713), 1st Advocate-General (1718, resigned 1737), State Councillor (1740) , 1st President of the Grand-Conseil (1744), ordinary State Councillor (1747), member of the Council for Dispatches (1757).

Joseph-Siffred Duplessis (Carpentras, September 22, 1725 – Versailles, April 1, 1802) was a French painter known for the clarity and immediacy of his portraits. He was born into a family with an artistic bent and received his first training from his father, a surgeon and talented amateur. He subsequently studied with Joseph Gabriel Imbert (1666–1749), who had been a pupil of Charles Le Brun. Installed in 1752 in Paris, where he was accepted into the Académie de Saint-Luc. His portrait of the Dauphine in 1771 and his appointment as a peintre du Roi assured his success: most of his surviving portraits date from the 1770s and 1780s. Many of his portraits received a wider circulation as engravings.

Pierre-Charles Levesque (or Lévêque), born March 28, 1736 in Paris, where he died March 12, 1812, was a French engraver, teacher, translator and historian. Raised to be an engraver like his father, Levesque managed to acquire a surprisingly remarkable education, despite the setbacks of his family's fortune. He then earned a living for some time as an engraver, before being appointed, at the recommendation of Diderot, professor in St. Petersburg. Leaving in 1773, he became a professor at the Saint Petersburg Cadet School from 1778 to 1780.

He used his next seven years in Russia to collect material for a comprehensive history of this country, which he published on his return to France. This work was extremely successful: even in Russia, his “Histoire de Russie” became a classic, while in France, it opened the doors of the Académie des inscriptions for him (a French Humanities society), and later of the College de France. He translated Xenophon and Plutarch for the collection of ancient moralists, and his main literary title was a proper translation of Thucydides.

Sources: Archives BNF, Paris; Jean-Paul Chabaud, Joseph-Siffred Duplessis : Un provençal, Peintre du Roi, 2004; Mémoires de l'Institut de France, 1821; Racines Histoires: Famille Gilbert de Voisins.

Artist: Pierre Charles Lévêque (1736-1812).
Medium: Etching on laid paper.
Condition: Very good condition.
Dimensions: 37 x 25.5 cm. / 14 ½ x 10 in. (sheet). 26.5 x 18.5 cm. / 10 ½ x 7 ¼ in. (plate).
Frame: 43 x 33 cm. / 17 x 13 in. New, classic style, acid-free matting and glass.
Origin: France.