The Property of
A EUROPEAN COLLECTOR
GRAVELOT [HUBERT FRANÇOIS BOURGUIGNON, called]. CORNEILLE, PIERRE. Complete suite of 34 ORIGINAL SIGNED DRAWINGS for the illustrations to Voltaire's edition of the Théâtre ([Geneva] 1764). [Paris, c. 1762-1763]. Mounted on laid paper sheets on guards bound into a large 4to album, 347 x 305 mm. (13 11/16 x 11 15/16 in.), tan calf, covers panelled in gilt with central red morocco gilt and azuré oval cartouches, spine in six gilt compartments with lion tools, red calf lettering-piece, turn-ins gilt, by E. Pouget, with his gilt-stamp at tail of spine, slightly rubbed, inner hinges cracked, morocco-edged slipcase, short tear to one album leaf, a few tissue guards detached, occasional small stains or discoloration to frames.
Details
GRAVELOT [HUBERT FRANÇOIS BOURGUIGNON, called]. CORNEILLE, PIERRE. Complete suite of 34 ORIGINAL SIGNED DRAWINGS for the illustrations to Voltaire's edition of the Théâtre ([Geneva] 1764). [Paris, c. 1762-1763]. Mounted on laid paper sheets on guards bound into a large 4to album, 347 x 305 mm. (13 11/16 x 11 15/16 in.), tan calf, covers panelled in gilt with central red morocco gilt and azuré oval cartouches, spine in six gilt compartments with lion tools, red calf lettering-piece, turn-ins gilt, by E. Pouget, with his gilt-stamp at tail of spine, slightly rubbed, inner hinges cracked, morocco-edged slipcase, short tear to one album leaf, a few tissue guards detached, occasional small stains or discoloration to frames.
34 highly finished drawings in pen-and-ink and sepia wash, a few with touches of supplementary wash in white, each within a hand-ruled ink border, average size 146 x 88 mm., all signed "H. Gravelot inven.", with hand-lettered ink captions at head and tail, 16 drawings within burnished gold border and black-bordered green wash outer frames ("encadrement à la Glomy"), of which 12 supplied at an early date and bearing a blind-stamped initial G just inside the gold inner border, the other 4 borders supplied recently, the remaining drawings with wide margins and hand-lettered captions at top identifying the play, act and scene (presumably present in the other drawings but obscured by the frames), drawings with occasional traces of erasures and retouchings, all but 4 of the drawings interleaved with proofs of the engravings (by Nicolas Le Mire, Baquoy, de Longueil, Lempereur and others). Cited in Cohen-de Ricci, 255.
Gravelot kept Voltaire waiting so long for the drawings for this celebrated edition of Corneille, undertaken in order to improve the finances of the author's niece, that Voltaire nearly relinquished plans to illustrate the edition, declaring "in a moment of petulance that he would do without 'the vain and miserable ornament of prints.' But the edition eventually appeared with Voltaire's commentaries and Gravelot's plates. It met with general approval, and indeed Gravelot's harmonious and decorative compositions, nicely interpreting the crucial moments of the plays, are a delight to the eyes"--Ray French 17. Cf. Ray pp. 36-37, for a description of Gravelot's "highly idiosyncratic" working methods, for which he employed three 2-foot high mannequins "'capable of every movement of the body, down to the fingers of both hands,'" and for which he had gathered a full theatrical wardrobe, and which he would assemble in the desired poses before starting to draw.
Provenance: Withdrawn from the Gravelot sale in 1773 -- Paignon Dijonval -- Charles-Gilbert, vicomte de Morel-Vindé, bookplate (sale, Paris, 17- March 1823) -- Comte de Chabot -- unidentified monogrammed bookplate, MB -- Raphaël Esmerian, bookplate (sale, Paris, part 3, 6 June 1973, lot 15) -- the present owner.
34 highly finished drawings in pen-and-ink and sepia wash, a few with touches of supplementary wash in white, each within a hand-ruled ink border, average size 146 x 88 mm., all signed "H. Gravelot inven.", with hand-lettered ink captions at head and tail, 16 drawings within burnished gold border and black-bordered green wash outer frames ("encadrement à la Glomy"), of which 12 supplied at an early date and bearing a blind-stamped initial G just inside the gold inner border, the other 4 borders supplied recently, the remaining drawings with wide margins and hand-lettered captions at top identifying the play, act and scene (presumably present in the other drawings but obscured by the frames), drawings with occasional traces of erasures and retouchings, all but 4 of the drawings interleaved with proofs of the engravings (by Nicolas Le Mire, Baquoy, de Longueil, Lempereur and others). Cited in Cohen-de Ricci, 255.
Gravelot kept Voltaire waiting so long for the drawings for this celebrated edition of Corneille, undertaken in order to improve the finances of the author's niece, that Voltaire nearly relinquished plans to illustrate the edition, declaring "in a moment of petulance that he would do without 'the vain and miserable ornament of prints.' But the edition eventually appeared with Voltaire's commentaries and Gravelot's plates. It met with general approval, and indeed Gravelot's harmonious and decorative compositions, nicely interpreting the crucial moments of the plays, are a delight to the eyes"--Ray French 17. Cf. Ray pp. 36-37, for a description of Gravelot's "highly idiosyncratic" working methods, for which he employed three 2-foot high mannequins "'capable of every movement of the body, down to the fingers of both hands,'" and for which he had gathered a full theatrical wardrobe, and which he would assemble in the desired poses before starting to draw.
Provenance: Withdrawn from the Gravelot sale in 1773 -- Paignon Dijonval -- Charles-Gilbert, vicomte de Morel-Vindé, bookplate (sale, Paris, 17- March 1823) -- Comte de Chabot -- unidentified monogrammed bookplate, MB -- Raphaël Esmerian, bookplate (sale, Paris, part 3, 6 June 1973, lot 15) -- the present owner.