Gilles-Marie Oppenord (1672-1742)

Design for a frontispiece with an allegory of Time flying over three putti playing with a lion

Details

Gilles-Marie Oppenord (1672-1742)
Oppenord, G.-M.
Design for a frontispiece with an allegory of Time flying over three putti playing with a lion
inscribed 'Differents fragments d'Architectures Et d'Ornements a l'usage des Btiments Sacrs, Public et particuliers, inventes, designes- Et mis En Execution-/Par Gilles Marie Oppenort Escuier Directeur gn. des Btiments et jardins de S.A.R. Mgn. le Duc d'Orleans Regent du Royaume.'
black chalk, pen and gray ink, gray wash heightened with white and gray on light brown paper, watermark proprietary
18.5/8 x 11 in. (472 x 292 mm.)

Provenance

Gabriel Huquier; Amsterdam, 14 September 1761, lot 3383.
A.D. Brard (L. 75); Paris, 21-5 February 1891, lot 299.

Literature

P. Fhring, 'Two Title Page Designs by Gilles-Marie Oppenord for his Engraved Oeuvre', Drawing, XIV, September-October, 1992, fig. 6.

Lot Essay

One of two designs presented to Huquier as potential frontispieces to the series of engravings his friend made after the architect's best drawings. The book which is often called Le Grand Oppenord was published after the artist's death between 1749 and 1751. Its exact title was Oeuvre de filles Marie Oppenort cuyer, directeur gnral des btiments et jardins de son Altesse Royale Monseigneur le Duc d'Orleans, Rgent du Royaume, contenant differents morceaux d'architecture et d'ornements l'usage de btiments sacrs, publics et particuliers. The other design is in the Muse des Arts Dcoratifs, Lyon, and bears the same inscription and is decorated with a bust of Vitruvius. The distinguished engraver Huquier owned more than two thousand drawings by Oppenord.