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Lot Essay
This is a preparatory drawing for one of the prints published by Jacques Lagniet in his voluminous series Recueil des plus illustres proverbs (Collection of Most Illustrious Proverbs). The collection, first published in 1657 and reissued several times, included many heterogeneous prints illustrating popular concepts of wisdom and morality in the form of well-known proverbs (fig. 1). Lagniet’s suite of prints comprised three books: Les proverbes moraux (Moral proverbs), Les proverbes joyeux and plaisans (Joyous and pleasant proverbs), and La vie des gueux en proverbs (The beggars' life in proverbs).
The print corresponding to this drawing appeared in the third book with proverbs and images illustrating the life, misery, and resourcefulness of the beggars and outcasts of the time. The print was published with the title Plus il gèle, plus il étreint (The colder it gets, the tighter it becomes).
The images, a compilation of motifs of which some derive from famous representations of beggars by Jacques Callot, are enriched by texts that partially explain, but also complicate, the meaning of the scenes depicted. The texts were common proverbs and expressions in 17th-century France, and their moral and satirical meaning would have been easily understood at the time.
The prints in Lagniet’s collection rarely give the name of the engraver, and the different quality and style of execution of the images suggest that multiple artists were involved in the designs. Lagniet himself signed some of the prints such as the one connected to this drawing. Preparatory studies for the series have rarely survived.
Fig. 1. Jacques Lagniet, Titlepage of Recueil des plus illustres proverbs. Paris, 1657.
The print corresponding to this drawing appeared in the third book with proverbs and images illustrating the life, misery, and resourcefulness of the beggars and outcasts of the time. The print was published with the title Plus il gèle, plus il étreint (The colder it gets, the tighter it becomes).
The images, a compilation of motifs of which some derive from famous representations of beggars by Jacques Callot, are enriched by texts that partially explain, but also complicate, the meaning of the scenes depicted. The texts were common proverbs and expressions in 17th-century France, and their moral and satirical meaning would have been easily understood at the time.
The prints in Lagniet’s collection rarely give the name of the engraver, and the different quality and style of execution of the images suggest that multiple artists were involved in the designs. Lagniet himself signed some of the prints such as the one connected to this drawing. Preparatory studies for the series have rarely survived.
Fig. 1. Jacques Lagniet, Titlepage of Recueil des plus illustres proverbs. Paris, 1657.