Lot Essay
The drawing is a study for the lithograph executed for Baron Taylor's Voyages pittoresque et romantiques dans l'ancienne France (fig. 1). In 1818 Isidore-Justin-Séverin Taylor (1789-1879) Cailleux and Nodier decided to publish volumes on French monuments, thus following Saint-Non's tradition of the Voyage Pittoresque in Southern Italy. The first volume on Normandy was published in 1820 and seventeen volumes followed between 1825 and 1878 on Franche-Comté, Auvergne, Languedoc, Picardie, Britany, Dauphiné, Champagne, Burgundy and another volume on Normandy, B. Foucart, Adrien Dauzats et Les Voyages pittoresques et romantiques dans l'ancienne France du Baron Taylor, Paris, n.d.
Taylor first called in a team of artists including Isabey, Gué and Cicéri to draw the monuments; but in 1827 Dauzats joined the team for the volumes on Franche-Comté and quickly became Taylor's first assistant. In 1829 Taylor asked Dauzats to accompany him on a secret mission to Egypt to acquire two obelisks from Luxor.
The lithograph of the Cathedrale Saint-Etienne in Toulouse is dated to 1833, although the drawing must have been executed in August or September 1832 during Taylor and Dauzats's visit in Languedoc. Dauzats executed another lithograph of the organ in Saint-Etienne, Foucart, op. cit., no. 49, illustrated.
The choir of Saint-Etienne was begun in 1272, but the vault, only built in the 17th Century, is contemporary with the altar designed by Germain Drouet and Pierre Mercier. The figures in the lithograph are different from those in the drawing.
Taylor first called in a team of artists including Isabey, Gué and Cicéri to draw the monuments; but in 1827 Dauzats joined the team for the volumes on Franche-Comté and quickly became Taylor's first assistant. In 1829 Taylor asked Dauzats to accompany him on a secret mission to Egypt to acquire two obelisks from Luxor.
The lithograph of the Cathedrale Saint-Etienne in Toulouse is dated to 1833, although the drawing must have been executed in August or September 1832 during Taylor and Dauzats's visit in Languedoc. Dauzats executed another lithograph of the organ in Saint-Etienne, Foucart, op. cit., no. 49, illustrated.
The choir of Saint-Etienne was begun in 1272, but the vault, only built in the 17th Century, is contemporary with the altar designed by Germain Drouet and Pierre Mercier. The figures in the lithograph are different from those in the drawing.