Details
WATTEAU, Antoine (1684-1721). L'Oeuvre d'Antoine Watteau Peintre du Roy en son Academie Roïale de Peinture et Sculpture gravé d'après ses Tableaux & Desseins originaux tirez du Cabinet du Roy & des plus curieux de l'Europe par les soins de M. de Jullienne. Paris: [1735]
2 volumes. Large 2° (623 x 463mm). 210 leaves, printed on one side only, versos blank. 2 Engraved titles by Bailleul and Moyreau after Guiot and Watteau , one leaf of engraved text, 273 plates on 207 leaves. These comprise 8 double-page plates on 16 leaves, 137 single-page plates, 80 two to-a-page on 40 leaves and 48 four to-a-page on 12 leaves. (Some staining, mainly due to water, in margins of 10 leaves, including 4 of the double-page plates; repair in upper blank margin of three leaves; one leaf 'Retour de Guinarete' a little discoloured; caption to 'Alte' stained; minor repair to title of vol.II. Occasional light fingersoiling or browning). Contemporary black morocco gilt, ARMS OF LOUIS XV [Olivier 2495 fer 20, largest format] on sides, within broad border of scrolling leaves, wreaths and fleurs-de lys, spine with raised bands gilt in ten compartments containing the crowned cypher of Louis and morocco lettering piece, by Padeloup le Jeune, with his ticket. (extremities of binding rubbed; split in upper joints and foot of spine worn). Provenance: (1) Comte Phelypeaux de Pontchartrain; (2) Bibliotheque de Mons. Raye De Breukeler; (3) Baron de Fleury; (4) Baron Foley [presumably sold in the Ruxley Lodge sale in 1919, but not listed by A and J.I.Freeman in Anatomy of an Auction, (1990)]. All 18th and 19th-century armorial bookplates.
EDITION LIMITED TO 100 COPIES OF PROOF PRINTS ON GRAND PAPIER. Many of the prints are in the first state. Another state of 'Rendez Vous' plate loosely inserted. The title to the second volume states 'quatrième et derniére partie'.
Jean de Jullienne (1686-1766) who commissioned this work made his fortune as a manufacturer and as director of the Gobelin factory. It was through the the salon of the financier and amateur Crozat that Jullienne met the painter Watteau, and as a tribute to their friendship Watteau on his deathbed gave Jullienne many of his drawings. After the painter's death in 1721 Jullienne decided to have the drawings that he and other friends had been given engraved and published as a book. After the first volume of the earlier reproductions of Watteau Figures de différents caractères was published in 1726, Jullienne decided to have the engravings of the paintings published similarly as a book. The project was to include the complete painted work of Watteau, a form of catalogue raisonné. Beginning in 1717, four years before Watteau's death, he brought together some of the best engravers of the time at the Gobelin factory and produced this great masterpiece of graphic art. To avoid counterfeiting, Jullienne asked for a royal privilège to reproduce Watteau's paintings. The privilège stated that Jullienne had the copyright of the reproductions of all paintings in his possession. According to the connoisseur Pierre-Jean Mariette, Jullienne, for some time, actually owned himself all the paintings of Watteau and the work was generally known as 'Recueil Julienne'. The terminus post quem of the publication was given by the limit of the privilège: 10 years from 1727.
An advert that appeared in 1734 in the Mercure de France announced L'oeuvre gravé describing the work: it was to be printed on large paper and only 100 copies should be made, and to assure that no more copies could be issued Jullienne was to sign himself every volume. However only one signed copy is known.
Louis XV reserved 10 copies of L'oeuvre gravé for his own use, including probably the present volumes. The inclusion of a large print of L'accordée au village at the end of volume I, proves that this set must be dated after October 1735, when this print was issued. Because of the way the work was conceived, the prints were published as loose sheets over 10 years or so preceeding the publication of the complete work. All copies differs from each other, either in the order of the engravings, or in the number of engravings included. The Schuhmann copy described by Cohen-de Ricci listing all the plates, does not mention L'accordée au village. Cf. E. Dacier & A. Vuaflart, Jean de Julienne et les graveurs de Watteau au XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1922, p. 55.
Cohen-De Ricci 1054-63 states that "Ce somptueux recueil en deux volumes est un des livres les plus beaux et les plus rares du XVIIIe siecle. Des cent exemplaires qui furent tirés, à peine une trentaine existent encore aujourd'hui [in 1912!] les autres ayant ètè cassés par les marchands d'estampes". He records in detail 41 copies that he has been able to trace, but did not know the copy offered here, in spite of its grand provenance.
Ray French, p.6 describes the present work and Watteau's Figures de différents caractères de paysage as a triumph of rococo book illustration, that 'provided not only a continuing inspiration but also an inexhaustible source for illustrators both in France and abroad who were working towards the new rococo style'. (2)
2 volumes. Large 2° (623 x 463mm). 210 leaves, printed on one side only, versos blank. 2 Engraved titles by Bailleul and Moyreau after Guiot and Watteau , one leaf of engraved text, 273 plates on 207 leaves. These comprise 8 double-page plates on 16 leaves, 137 single-page plates, 80 two to-a-page on 40 leaves and 48 four to-a-page on 12 leaves. (Some staining, mainly due to water, in margins of 10 leaves, including 4 of the double-page plates; repair in upper blank margin of three leaves; one leaf 'Retour de Guinarete' a little discoloured; caption to 'Alte' stained; minor repair to title of vol.II. Occasional light fingersoiling or browning). Contemporary black morocco gilt, ARMS OF LOUIS XV [Olivier 2495 fer 20, largest format] on sides, within broad border of scrolling leaves, wreaths and fleurs-de lys, spine with raised bands gilt in ten compartments containing the crowned cypher of Louis and morocco lettering piece, by Padeloup le Jeune, with his ticket. (extremities of binding rubbed; split in upper joints and foot of spine worn). Provenance: (1) Comte Phelypeaux de Pontchartrain; (2) Bibliotheque de Mons. Raye De Breukeler; (3) Baron de Fleury; (4) Baron Foley [presumably sold in the Ruxley Lodge sale in 1919, but not listed by A and J.I.Freeman in Anatomy of an Auction, (1990)]. All 18th and 19th-century armorial bookplates.
EDITION LIMITED TO 100 COPIES OF PROOF PRINTS ON GRAND PAPIER. Many of the prints are in the first state. Another state of 'Rendez Vous' plate loosely inserted. The title to the second volume states 'quatrième et derniére partie'.
Jean de Jullienne (1686-1766) who commissioned this work made his fortune as a manufacturer and as director of the Gobelin factory. It was through the the salon of the financier and amateur Crozat that Jullienne met the painter Watteau, and as a tribute to their friendship Watteau on his deathbed gave Jullienne many of his drawings. After the painter's death in 1721 Jullienne decided to have the drawings that he and other friends had been given engraved and published as a book. After the first volume of the earlier reproductions of Watteau Figures de différents caractères was published in 1726, Jullienne decided to have the engravings of the paintings published similarly as a book. The project was to include the complete painted work of Watteau, a form of catalogue raisonné. Beginning in 1717, four years before Watteau's death, he brought together some of the best engravers of the time at the Gobelin factory and produced this great masterpiece of graphic art. To avoid counterfeiting, Jullienne asked for a royal privilège to reproduce Watteau's paintings. The privilège stated that Jullienne had the copyright of the reproductions of all paintings in his possession. According to the connoisseur Pierre-Jean Mariette, Jullienne, for some time, actually owned himself all the paintings of Watteau and the work was generally known as 'Recueil Julienne'. The terminus post quem of the publication was given by the limit of the privilège: 10 years from 1727.
An advert that appeared in 1734 in the Mercure de France announced L'oeuvre gravé describing the work: it was to be printed on large paper and only 100 copies should be made, and to assure that no more copies could be issued Jullienne was to sign himself every volume. However only one signed copy is known.
Louis XV reserved 10 copies of L'oeuvre gravé for his own use, including probably the present volumes. The inclusion of a large print of L'accordée au village at the end of volume I, proves that this set must be dated after October 1735, when this print was issued. Because of the way the work was conceived, the prints were published as loose sheets over 10 years or so preceeding the publication of the complete work. All copies differs from each other, either in the order of the engravings, or in the number of engravings included. The Schuhmann copy described by Cohen-de Ricci listing all the plates, does not mention L'accordée au village. Cf. E. Dacier & A. Vuaflart, Jean de Julienne et les graveurs de Watteau au XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1922, p. 55.
Cohen-De Ricci 1054-63 states that "Ce somptueux recueil en deux volumes est un des livres les plus beaux et les plus rares du XVIIIe siecle. Des cent exemplaires qui furent tirés, à peine une trentaine existent encore aujourd'hui [in 1912!] les autres ayant ètè cassés par les marchands d'estampes". He records in detail 41 copies that he has been able to trace, but did not know the copy offered here, in spite of its grand provenance.
Ray French, p.6 describes the present work and Watteau's Figures de différents caractères de paysage as a triumph of rococo book illustration, that 'provided not only a continuing inspiration but also an inexhaustible source for illustrators both in France and abroad who were working towards the new rococo style'. (2)