Lot Essay
The present drawing represents the interior of the Café de la Régence with figures playing chess in the background and, according to Emile Dacier, Jean-Jacques Rousseau seated and reading a book in the foreground, Dacier, loc. cit., p. 88.
Another drawing of Rousseau in the Café de la Régence was drawn by Saint-Aubin in the catalogue of the Baron de Thiers collection, J.-L. de Los Llanos, Fragonard et le dessin français au XVIIIe siècle dans les collections du Petit Palais, exhib. cat., Musée du Petit Palais, Paris, 1993, p. 132, fig. 81. Rousseau is there identified by an inscription by the artist: 'M. Rousseau de Genève, dessiné au caffé de la Régence en 1771'. He is also represented meditating and in profile, with the same characteristic nose as in the present drawing.
The poem written on both sides of the medallion was written by Saint-Aubin. Emile Dacier records a number of poems by the artist, op. cit., pp. 111-25) and in Le 'Sedaine' de Chantilly, ou Gabriel de Saint-Aubin poète, Revue de l'art ancien et moderne, 1920, XXXVIII, pp. 5-18 and 65-76.
The Café de la Place du Palais-Royal became the Café de la Régence at the death of Louis XIV in 1715. It was situated on the corner of the Place du Palais-Royal and the rue Saint-Honoré, and became, in the second part of the 18th Century, one of the most fashionable cafés in Paris, frequented by numerous writers such as Chamfort, Grimm, Marmontel, Voltaire and Diderot.
The café also attracted numerous chess players and, among others, the two greatest chess players of the time, the Marquis de Légal and the musician François-André Danican, called Philidor (1727-1795). More modest players such as Robespierre or Jean-Jacques Rousseau also came to the café.
Rousseau arrived in Paris in the fall of 1741 and decided that chess would be an easy way to attract attention. He met Diderot at the Café de la Régence and often played chess with him, usually to his advantage, D. O'Gorman, Diderot the satirist, Toronto, 1971, p. 214. In 1762 a warrant of arrest was issued against Rousseau for the publication of Emile. The writer was forced to flee from France. Upon his return eight years later, Rousseau went back to the Café de la Régence where his presence attracted such crowds that the police had to forbid him to appear in public.
Diderot described the atmosphere of the Café de la Régence in Le Neveu de Rameau written during the 1770s: 'Si le temps est trop froid, ou trop pluvieux, je me réfugie au café de la Régence; là je m'amuse à voir jouer aux échecs. Paris est l'endroit du monde, et le café de la Régence est l'endroit de Paris où l'on joue le mieux à ce jeu. C'est chez Rey que font assaut Légal le profond, Philidor le subtil, le solide Mayot; qu'on voit les coups les plus surprenants, et qu'on entend les plus mauvais propos; car si l'on peut être homme d'esprit et grand joueur d'échecs, comme Légal; on peut être aussi un grand joueur d'échecs, et un sot, comme Foubert et Mayot.'
Another drawing of Rousseau in the Café de la Régence was drawn by Saint-Aubin in the catalogue of the Baron de Thiers collection, J.-L. de Los Llanos, Fragonard et le dessin français au XVIIIe siècle dans les collections du Petit Palais, exhib. cat., Musée du Petit Palais, Paris, 1993, p. 132, fig. 81. Rousseau is there identified by an inscription by the artist: 'M. Rousseau de Genève, dessiné au caffé de la Régence en 1771'. He is also represented meditating and in profile, with the same characteristic nose as in the present drawing.
The poem written on both sides of the medallion was written by Saint-Aubin. Emile Dacier records a number of poems by the artist, op. cit., pp. 111-25) and in Le 'Sedaine' de Chantilly, ou Gabriel de Saint-Aubin poète, Revue de l'art ancien et moderne, 1920, XXXVIII, pp. 5-18 and 65-76.
The Café de la Place du Palais-Royal became the Café de la Régence at the death of Louis XIV in 1715. It was situated on the corner of the Place du Palais-Royal and the rue Saint-Honoré, and became, in the second part of the 18th Century, one of the most fashionable cafés in Paris, frequented by numerous writers such as Chamfort, Grimm, Marmontel, Voltaire and Diderot.
The café also attracted numerous chess players and, among others, the two greatest chess players of the time, the Marquis de Légal and the musician François-André Danican, called Philidor (1727-1795). More modest players such as Robespierre or Jean-Jacques Rousseau also came to the café.
Rousseau arrived in Paris in the fall of 1741 and decided that chess would be an easy way to attract attention. He met Diderot at the Café de la Régence and often played chess with him, usually to his advantage, D. O'Gorman, Diderot the satirist, Toronto, 1971, p. 214. In 1762 a warrant of arrest was issued against Rousseau for the publication of Emile. The writer was forced to flee from France. Upon his return eight years later, Rousseau went back to the Café de la Régence where his presence attracted such crowds that the police had to forbid him to appear in public.
Diderot described the atmosphere of the Café de la Régence in Le Neveu de Rameau written during the 1770s: 'Si le temps est trop froid, ou trop pluvieux, je me réfugie au café de la Régence; là je m'amuse à voir jouer aux échecs. Paris est l'endroit du monde, et le café de la Régence est l'endroit de Paris où l'on joue le mieux à ce jeu. C'est chez Rey que font assaut Légal le profond, Philidor le subtil, le solide Mayot; qu'on voit les coups les plus surprenants, et qu'on entend les plus mauvais propos; car si l'on peut être homme d'esprit et grand joueur d'échecs, comme Légal; on peut être aussi un grand joueur d'échecs, et un sot, comme Foubert et Mayot.'