1628-1671

In this scene, two mythological figures, probably Pan and Apollo, are seated facing each other. It appears to be a musical competition in which each figure leans against a tree and plays a musical instrument. Pan is at the left, playing panpipes.

Apollo is at the right, playing a lyre. A man in flowing draperies at the right gestures toward Pan. Two men sit behind a tree at the left, listening. A dog reclines at the far right corner near Apollo. Apollo's bow and quiver of arrows are suspended on a tree branch at the far right.

The scene is composed within a horizontal linear frame in the shape of an octagon. The model - a painting or drawing - on which this etching by Episcopius may have been based is not known and needs further research.

The tiny collector's mark on the verso of this etching, a circle enclosing a small triangle above the initials "DB," refers to Désiré Bouillard, a 19th-century Belgian engraver, who collected mostly 19th-century prints, especially the prints of Charles Meryon (1821-1868), a masterful French etcher noted for his series, "Etchings of Paris," which he began producing about 1850. Nothing is known about the life of Bouillard.[1]

About the Artist

Jan de Bisschop, known as Johannes Episcopius, lawyer, draughtsman, and etcher, ca. 1628-1671

The identity of the artist of this etching is per pencilled inscriptions on the recto and verso of this print: "Episcopius" and "J. E. Bishop? [sic]." According to Bénézit, Johannes Episcopius was the name used by Jan de Bisschop, a 17th-century Dutch lawyer, draughtsman and etcher. Episcopius was born in Amsterdam ca. 1628; and, he died in 1671, though some sources give his death date as 1686 in The Hague. Presumably, after he studied law in Leiden, he made a trip to Italy because there are many copies of Italian paintings attributed to Episcopius in old auction catalogues. Episcopius seems to have been friendly with Constantyn Huygens the elder (1596-1687), a Dutch draughtsman and poet who worked in The Hague. The drawings of Episcopius consist of reproductions of Italian and Dutch landscapes, as well as copies after works by classical and contemporary artists. Among his subjects were religious scenes, genre, landscapes and seascapes, urban views, ruins and animals. Works by Episcopius are found in many of the print collections in European museums: the British Museum in London, the Rijksprentenkabinet in Amsterdam, the Kupferstichkabinet in Berlin, the print collection in Haarlem, and the Albertina in Vienna. Examples of the artist's monogram and a number of chalk or pen and ink wash drawings by Episcopius are listed in Bénézit.

1745-1819

finished by Pierre-Philippe Choffard, draughtsman and engraver, 1730-1809, after a drawing by Pierre Adrien Pâris, painter, architect, draughtsman, decorator, and engraver, 1745-1819, from a book compiled by Richard, or Jean-Claude Richard, abbé de Saint-Non, draughtsman, etcher, and aquatinter, 1727-1791

A pair of theater scenes, in simple stage settings, is depicted here. In the scene on the left, an old man leans on a staff and gazes at two figures seated on the left, one of whom plays an aulos. In the scene on the right, a man with a mask over his mouth points to two women standing at the left.

This is a plate from a book, Voyage pittoresque, ou Description des royaumes de Naples et de Sicile, compiled by Richard de Saint-Non (1727-1791), that was published in five folio volumes from 1781 to 1786. This image is from volume 2, which is dated 1782, the full title of which is Peintures antiques découvertes à Herculanum et conservées dans le Musaeum de Portici, no. 38 (Antique paintings discovered at Herculaneum and conserved in the Museum of Portici, no. 38).[1] This plate is from Chapitre Septième. Tableaux & Peintures antiques d'Herculanum. It faces page 19 and a description of it appears under the heading, "SCÈNES COMIQUES," which is given here in translation, as follows:

These two fragments of antique paintings which are found in the fourth volume of Antiquities from Herculaneum, plates 33 and 34, are extremely curious, and perhaps unique in their genre. It is probable that the painter wanted to represent two comic scenes: it would be very difficult to determine the subject of them; but who knows if these manuscripts from Herculaneum on which literary Europe had such great hopes, and which she saw neglected with so many regrets, did not include the Comedies which served as the model for the painter. Pliny speaks of a certain Callade who excelled in the representations of comic scenes, and of an Antiphile who was celebrated for tragic scenes. With regard to the action of the different personnages, one of these figures who seems to play a role of a valet, a Dave, is helped in being recognized by his short costume, which was the dress of slaves in the homes of the Ancients. The gesture he makes with his right hand is a gesture of derision which is perpetuated until our own time: the embarrassment of the young person whom he designates, and who is seen smiling while covering the lower part of her face, can serve to explain it. Regarding the horribly charged mask that the slave carries, everyone knows that the Ancients made use of them and by giving masks to their Actors which, up close, seemed hideous; but whose deformity disappeared, at least in part, by the distance in which the spectators found themselves in theaters of vast extent: moreover the construction of these masks had the purpose of augmenting and strengthening immensely the voice of the actor, and that which is represented here, indicates clearly by its form this objective. It is not of any help in determining the subject by the other fragment of antique painting, not having any decided action: it is, it seems, a kind of grotesque concert, in which one of the actors, who is represented as being a 'tibicen,' or a public flute player, is seen playing two flutes at once; a practiced custom among the Ancients and known through quantities of bas-reliefs, Campanien vases, known more under the name of Etruscan vases, and engraved antique gems.[2]

Note that there is a slight difference in the inscription under the image to the right between this etching and the image in Copy 1 of this volume in the Rare Book Division. The inscription reads in Copy 1: "Revu. par Choffard" instead of "Terminé par Choffard." The inscription in the Rosenwald copy is the same as this etching: "Terminé par Choffard." See 44/U, a similar pair of theater scenes, plate no. 62, which comes from the same chapter.

About the Artists

Antoine Maria Stagnon, draughtsman and engraver, 1751-1805

Antoine Maria Stagnon was an Italian draughtsman and engraver who was born in Mondelli in 1751, and who died in Turin in 1805. He engraved the state seals for the king of Sardinia but, most notably, he engraved the costumes and uniforms of Sardinia and the north of Italy. The abbé de Saint-Non employed him to engrave some plates for his Voyage pittoresque…. Later, his plates were modified and signed with the name Choffard to which Stagnon objected vigorously.[3]

Pierre-Philippe Choffard, draughtsman and engraver, 1730-1809

Pierre-Philippe Choffard was a draughtsman and engraver as well as a writer. Choffard was born in 1730 in Paris and he died in Paris in 1809. He had as his masters Guillaume Dheulland (ca. 1700-ca. 1770) for whom he drew cartouches for maps, and Pierre-Edmé Babel, a goldsmith. He became known principally for the ornamental headpieces and tailpieces (fleurons and culs-de-lampe) that were used as chapter headings and endings in beautifully illustrated books, such as La Fontaine's Contes (1762), Ovid's Metamorphoses (1767-1771), and the abbé de Saint-Non's Voyage pittoresque… (1781-1786). He also engraved two plates for the Conquêtes de l'Empereur de Chine (1767-1773), through his friendship with Charles-Nicolas Cochin.[4]

Pierre Adrien Pâris, painter, architect, draughtsman, decorator, and engraver, 1745-1819

The artist whose drawing on which this etching was based was Pierre Adrien Pâris, a French architect and stage designer, from Besançon. He was the student of his father, Pierre-François Pâris, architect and topographer to the Prince-Bishop of Basel, and he also studied in Paris under the architect, Louis-François Trouard, and created designs for the entertainments for the wedding of the Dauphin and Marie-Antoinette in 1770. About this time, Pierre-Adrien Pâris traveled to Italy where he lived and worked for five years. He had many influential friends and associated with artists such as Fragonard and provided numerous drawings of antiquities at Pompeii and Herculaneum for the abbé de Saint-Non's Voyage pittoresque…. Pâris traveled extensively in Italy, making architectural drawings, and keeping a journal of all his travels. On his return to Paris, he received numerous architectural commissions. In 1778, he was appointed Dessinateur de la Chambre et du Cabinet du Roi and was ultimately responsible, especially after 1784 when he was appointed Architecte des Menus Plaisirs by Louis XVI, for all the court entertainments and designs for theater productions at Versailles. He also produced designs for stage sets at the Paris Opéra. During the Revolution, he completed the towers of the cathedral at Orléans and built extensions to Colmoulin, a chateau in Normandy. In 1805, Napoleon appointed Pâris as the interim director of the Académie de France in Rome and, during his stay in Rome, he directed the excavations of the Colosseum. At the end of his life, Pâris returned to Besançon and catalogued his art collection which included his own work as well as paintings by Boucher, Fragonard, and Hubert Robert. His collection is now housed in the Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'Archéologie in Besançon.[5]

Richard, or Jean-Claude Richard, abbé de Saint-Non, draughtsman, etcher, and aquatinter, 1727-1791

Richard, or Jean-Claude Richard, abbé de Saint-Non, was a painter in oils, gouache and pastel, a draughtsman, etcher and aquatinter, as well as an art collector and patron of the arts. He was born in Paris in 1727 and died there in 1791. Though he joined the Church as a young man as his family intended, he preferred the study of art. In 1750, he traveled to England and The Netherlands, where he collected some etchings by Rembranh2. It was in Italy, though, that the abbé de Saint-Non spent many years, beginning in 1759, where he befriended and traveled with artists such as Hubert Robert and Fragonard, whose drawings he later etched and published in Fragmens des peintures et des tableaux les plus intéressans des palais et églises d'Italie (1770-1773) and in his Griffonis (1755-1778). One of his finest productions, however, was the publication of Voyage pittoresque de Naples et de Sicile which appeared in five folio volumes between 1781 and 1786. These volumes contain over 500 etched plates which document the topography and mid-18th-century archeological findings at Herculaneum, Pompeii, and excavations in Naples and Sicily. For this project, Saint-Non enlisted the help of numerous other artists and engravers and, under his guidance, Dominique-Vivant Denon wrote the text. The Library of Congress has two sets of Saint-Non's Voyage pittoresque…, both in the Rare Book Division, one set of which is in the Rosenwald Collection, the full citation and call numbers of which are given in the description of this work. Among the luminaries Saint-Non knew were Benjamin Franklin, Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.[6]

1744-1798

after a drawing by Pierre Adrien Pâris, painter, architect, draughtsman, decorator, and engraver, 1745-1819; from a book compiled by Richard, or Jean-Claude Richard, abbé de Saint-Non, draughtsman, etcher, and aquatinter, 1727-1791

This is a pair of theater scenes set on stage. In the scene at the left, a seated man gazes at a woman on the left. She crouches beneath an image of a mask of an open-mouthed man and she inscribes a tablet with a stylus. Standing above the woman, another man gazes down at her. In the scene on the right, a man plays an aulos, a woman plays a lyre, and another woman holds a papyrus roll on which lines of text can be seen.

This is a plate from a book, Voyage pittoresque, ou Description des royaumes de Naples et de Sicile, compiled by Richard de Saint-Non (1727-1791), that was published in five volumes from 1781 to 1786. This image is from Vol. 2, which is dated 1782, the full title of which is Peintures antiques découvertes à Herculanum conservées dans le Musaeum de Portici, no. 62 (Antique paintings discovered at Herculaneum conserved in the Museum of Portici, no. 62).[1] It faces page 17 and a description of it is given under the heading, "CONCERT ET MUSIQUE ANTIQUE" ("Concert and Antique Music") as follows, in translation:

These two fragments of antique paintings are without doubt some of the most curious in the whole Museum of Portici; some think that one of these paintings represents the poet Aeschylus who recites or dictates one of his plays, which is presumed, because, knowing the heads of Sophocles and Euripides which do not resemble the figure represented here, one has good reason to think that it must be the poet Aeschylus who was surely of good repute in Herculaneum, since a theater ticket has been discovered in the excavations of this city on which is written the name of Aeschylus and one of his plays: these tickets among the ancients were of ivory and were called tesserae. On the table which is before the woman writing under the dictation of the Poet, one sees a large mask similar to those which we have already mentioned and which are represented often and with different characters in several of the antique fragments. The other fragment represents a concert of different instrument players among whom one notices, with singularity, a kind of bandeau or muzzle which is attached to the cheeks of the musician playing the double pipes [tibia or aulos]. This bandeau was undoubtedly necessary to support and reinforce the muscles in action in order to be able to play this instrument for a long time which must have been very fatiguing: this piece of bandeau, of which we just spoke, was called a capistrum. The flute player is accompanied by a woman who plays a kind of lyre or harp. There is a likelihood that, following the custom of the ancients, music was joined with song, or to the declamation of this seated woman who, holding in her hand a roll or volume, recites undoubtedly some verse or hymn, and that the men who are behind, and like her crowned with laurel, form a chorus of music in certain places. This extremely curious fragment of antique painting is slightly damaged in the original: but we believed it proper to render it, thus reconstructed, in as much as nothing essential has been added; and that all that was most interesting has been fortunately preserved in the antique fragment. These two fragments of the same size, nearly 16 pouces [inches] square, were found in 1761, and are engraved in the fourth volume on Herculaneum, on pages 41 and 42.[2]

See 430/U, a similar pair of theater scenes, plate no. 38, which comes from the same chapter.

About the Artists

Vicenzo Vangelisti, stipple engraver, 1744-1798

Vicenzo Vangelisti was born in Florence, possibly in 1738, rather than in 1744, and he died in Paris in 1798, according to Bénézit. He was very young when he came to Paris. Vangelisti studied with two important artists - Hugford and Wille. He may have studied with Ignazio Enrico Hugford in Florence, before arriving in Paris, and probably studied with Jan Georges, or Johan Georg, Wille in Paris. Ignazio Hugford (1703-1788) was an English painter, engraver, collector, dealer, and writer who was born in Pisa and lived in Florence. He was considered a fine printmaker and taught Francesco Bartolozzi (1727-1815) and Giovanni Battista Cipriani (1727-1785). Hugford's collection of 3,000 works was purchased by the Uffizi in 1778. Jan Georges Wille (1715-1808) was a German-born draughtsman and engraver who came to Paris in 1736 and was named an Academician there in 1761. Wille was held in high esteem as an artist and for his wisdom in counseling his students, especially those who came from Germany to study with him. Wille was known for his portrait engravings and his copies of 17th-century Dutch and Flemish genre scenes. He also engraved genre scenes after the works of his contemporaries. Wille was also a collector and dealer in prints, drawings and paintings, but he was ruined financially by the French Revolution. He was active as an engraver from 1738 to 1790, but lost his vision toward the end of his life. Wille received many honors in his lifetime. He was a member of art academies in Paris, Rouen, Augsburg, Valence, Berlin and Dresden, and he was the engraver to the king of France, the emperor of Germany, and the king of Denmark. Vangelisti, student of both Hugford and Wille, and engraver of the Miller print, went to Milan in 1766 through the auspices of emperor Leopold II. Vangelisti was a professor at the Academy there and, in 1790, was the director of the School of Engraving founded by Leopold. Among Vangelisti's many students was Giuseppe Longhi (1766-1831), who became one of the finest masters of Italian engraving, and who was also a painter of miniatures. Giuseppe Longhi was appointed as a professor of engraving at the Academy of Brera. The best Italian engravers of the early 19th century were taught by Longhi.[3]

Pierre Adrien Pâris, painter, architect, draughtsman, decorator, and engraver, 1745-1819

The artist whose drawing on which this etching was based was Pierre Adrien Pâris, a French architect and stage designer from Besançon. He was the student of his father, Pierre-François Pâris, architect and topographer to the Prince-Bishop of Basel, and he also studied in Paris under the architect, Louis-François Trouard, and created designs for the entertainments for the wedding of the Dauphin and Marie-Antoinette in 1770. About this time, Pierre-Adrien Pâris traveled to Italy where he lived and worked for five years. He had many influential friends and associated with artists such as Fragonard and provided numerous drawings of antiquities at Pompeii and Herculaneum for the abbé de Saint-Non's Voyage pittoresque… Pâris traveled extensively in Italy, making architectural drawings, and keeping a journal of all his travels. On his return to Paris, he received numerous architectural commissions. In 1778, he was appointed Dessinateur de la Chambre et du Cabinet du Roi and was ultimately responsible, especially after 1784 when he was appointed Architecte des Menus Plaisirs by Louis XVI, for all the court entertainments and designs for theater productions at Versailles. He also produced designs for stage sets at the Paris Opéra. During the Revolution, he completed the towers of the cathedral at Orléans and built extensions to Colmoulin, a chateau in Normandy. In 1805, Napoleon appointed Pâris as the interim director of the Académie de France in Rome and, during his stay in Rome, he directed the excavations of the Colosseum. At the end of his life, Pâris returned to Besançon and catalogued his art collection which included his own work as well as paintings by Boucher, Fragonard, and Hubert Robert. His collection is now housed in the Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'Archéologie in Besançon.[4]

Richard, or Jean-Claude Richard, abbé de Saint-Non, draughtsman, etcher, and aquatinter, 1727-1791

Richard, or Jean-Claude Richard, abbé de Saint-Non, was a painter in oils, gouache and pastel, a draughtsman, etcher and aquatinter, as well as an art collector and patron of the arts. He was born in Paris in 1727 and died there in 1791. Though he joined the Church as a young man as his family intended, he preferred the study of art. In 1750, he traveled to England and The Netherlands, where he collected some etchings by Rembranh2. It was in Italy, though, that the abbé de Saint-Non spent many years, beginning in 1759, where he befriended and traveled with artists such as Hubert Robert and Fragonard, whose drawings he later etched and published in Fragmens des peintures et des tableaux les plus intéressans des palais et églises d'Italie (1770-1773) and in his Griffonis (1755-1778). One of his finest productions, however, was the publication of Voyage pittoresque de Naples et de Sicile which appeared in five folio volumes between 1781 and 1786. These volumes contain over 500 etched plates which document the topography and mid-18th-century archeological findings at Herculaneum, Pompeii, and excavations in Naples and Sicily. For this project, Saint-Non enlisted the help of numerous other artists and engravers and, under his guidance, Dominique-Vivant Denon wrote the text. The Library of Congress has two sets of Saint-Non's Voyage pittoresque…, both in the Rare Book Division, one set of which is in the Rosenwald Collection, the full citation and call numbers of which are given in the description of this work. Among the luminaries Saint-Non knew were Benjamin Franklin, Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.[5]

1672-1708

possibly after a design by Caspar Luyken, or Luiken, engraver, 1672-1708

In this image, a woodwind instrument maker works in his studio. Facing right, he is seated at his workbench making an instrument. Other partially-made instruments are on his work table and his tools are hanging on the back wall. Among the instruments represented here are: a bassoon, shawm, curtal, cornetts, recorders, and oboes.[1]

This engraving comes from a book of professions and trades that was published by Christoph Weigel in Regensburg in 1698. It was entitled Abbildung der gemein nützlichen Haupt Stände…[2] It includes plates and texts on the following occupations: lawyer, engineer, writer, notary, crossbow maker, apothecary, cantor, sail maker, artist, woodcut maker, bookbinder, trumpet maker, lute maker, printmaker, book dealer, wheelwright, smith, mirror maker, tanner, shoemaker, stone breaker, furrier, and others. The plate of the "pfeiffenmacher" or "wind instrument maker" faces page 236, and three pages of text in old German (pages 236, 237-238) describe this trade. The measurements of the image of the wind instrument maker in the 1698 book and those of the Miller print are identical, thus the Miller engraving must have been made from the same plate.

The identity of Christoph Weigel as the engraver of the Miller engraving is based on the invoice of Seuffer & Willi, dealers in antiquarian books and art in Munich, from whom Dr. Miller purchased this engraving in 1934. The invoice states: "Flute-maker. Inneres einer Werkstätte, in der ein Flute-maker beschäftigt ist. Kupferstich. Chr. Weigel fec. Regensburg 1698." The abbreviation "fec." refers to Weigel as the "maker" of this copper engraving. Weigel was indeed an engraver as well as a publisher.

However, the bibliographic entry for the Folger edition of the 1698 book of trades indicates that Caspar Luiken (1672-1708) was the illustrator. It may be that Luiken (also spelled Luyken) made this engraving, or Weigel may have engraved it after Luiken's design. A literal translation of the old German text[3] at the top of this print is as follows: "The Wind Instrument Maker / He who practices charity is silent: he who takes proves himself loud." The six lines of verse beneath the image[4] read: "Poverty is like pipes; / When it makes felt the breath of love, / When generosity arouses the fingers, / Its sound of thanks makes you rich with joy / By penetrating the clouds / And bringing blessings in return."[5]

About the Artists

Christoph Weigel, engraver and print publisher, 1654-1725

Christoph Weigel, an engraver and publisher, was born in Redwig in Bohemia in 1654, and he died in Nuremburg in 1725, according to Bénézit. He is considered an artist of the Austrian school. Weigel lived and worked in many cities including Frankfurt, Vienna and Augsburg, but he settled in Nuremburg as an engraver and publisher. Among his subjects were Biblical scenes and he was also an engraver and publisher of mezzotint portraits. The mezzotint portraits date to the period from 1700 to 1725 and include King George I and John Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough.[6]

Caspar Luyken, or Luiken, engraver, 1672-1708

Caspar Luyken, or Luiken, was a Dutch artist who worked first in Amsterdam, and later in Nuremburg with Christoph Weigel. He was working in Vienna in 1703, but returned to Amsterdam in 1705. He created more than 1,100 engravings, some of which he did together with his father, Jan Luyken (1649-1712), a painter, draughtsman, engraver and poet, who was considered one of the finest engravers of his time. Jan and Caspar Luyken published, Het Menselyk Bedryf (Book of Trades), in 1694. It was also published in the same year with a slightly different title, Spiegel van 't menselyk Bedryf (Mirror of the book of trades). It contained one hundred engravings of different occupations. Each engraving carried the name of the profession with two lines of text above the image and a six-line poem beneath the image. Caspar engraved most of the prints after his father's drawings, but sometimes they worked together on the same plate, Caspar engraving the foreground, and Jan the background. This book of trades was enormously popular and it went through numerous reprintings until 1767. Even as late as 1822, the plates were reused. Other similar books appeared, some using the same designs as those by the Luykens, but with more trades added, such as Etwas für Alle… by Abraham à Sancta Clara, for which Weigel engraved the plates after designs by Caspar and Jan Luyken, and which was published in three volumes from 1699-1711.[7]

1747-1806

after a drawing possibly by Antoine Borel, painter, draughtsman and etcher, 18th century, after a painting by Tiziano Vecelli, called Titian, ca. 1488-1576

In this scene, a beautiful nude woman reclines on a divan at the right, and she holds in her left hand a recorder. She wears a pearl necklace and earrings and pearls are twined into her hair. Bracelets adorn her wrists. A small winged figure crowns her with a garland of flowers. At the left is a young gentleman in courtly dress, his back to the viewer, and he plays a lute as he gazes toward the woman. The setting appears to be an open-air pavilion, or a room in a palace that is open to the out of doors. The divan is draped with luxuriant fabrics and the heavy curtains above the scene open onto a view of the distant landscape in which a mountain, a grove a trees, and hunting dogs can be seen. Pages of music are open at the lower right and, in the lower right corner is a viol.

The title of this print is Philippe II et sa Maitresse which refers to Philip II of Spain and his mistress, the Princess of Eboli, which is how the original painting by Titian is identified in the above inscription when it was in the collection of the duc d'Orléans in the 18th century. Titian did indeed meet Philip II before he had attained the throne and he did paint a series of canvases for him called the "poesie" which were based on stories from Ovid. Philip II of Spain became Titian's principal patron, however, the identity of the sitters as Philip II and his mistress in the painting owned by the duc d'Orléans has no real basis in fact. The painting, which is now in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England, is titled Venus and Cupid with a Lute Player and it is dated to the early or mid-1560s.

This etching by Jacques Bouillard, Philippe II et sa Maitresse, was reproduced in the Galerie du Palais Royal…, a collection of 355 etchings and engravings of paintings in the collection of Louis-Philippe-Joseph, duc d'Orléans (1747-1793). The Galerie du Palais Royal… was published in three volumes from 1786 to 1808.[1] Known as Philippe Egalité, the duc d'Orléans was a cousin of Louis XVI; he died during the French Revolution. The duc d'Orléans was guillotined in 1793. The previous year, in 1792, he had sold his French and Italian paintings to Edouard Walkiers, a Brussels banker.[2] Laborde de Méréville, a relative of Walkiers, then bought the collection from him. Laborde fled to London, probably in 1795, and brought the Orléans paintings with him. Unable to raise funds, Laborde sold the Orléans paintings to his London banker, Jeremiah Harman, who then sold them to a London dealer, Michael Bryan. The French and Italian paintings from the Orléans collection were offered for sale at Bryan's Gallery and at the Lyceum in the Strand in London on 26 December 1798. Titian's painting, Philip II and his Mistress, was exhibited at the Lyceum as no. 199.

The publication of the second and third volumes of the Galerie du Palais Royal… was delayed until 1808, sixteen years after the duc d'Orléans sold his collection, and two years after the death of Bouillard, the engraver of this print. The Miller etching has been trimmed to the image itself and the text that appeared beneath it in Galerie du Palias Royal… has been cut out and separated from the image. Both pieces have been preserved and are mounted together in the Miller collection. The Miller etching matches exactly the version published in Galerie du Palais Royal…, except that it has been trimmed from its etched "egg and dart" border. The black ink in the Miller etching is actually richer and more velvety than the published print which results in stronger light and dark contrasts in the Miller version.

A few lines from the heading to the text are missing from the Miller text. They are: "ECOLE VENITIENNE. / IIII.E TABLEAU DE TITIEN VECELLI. / Peint sur Toile ayant de hauteur 4 Pieds 8 Pouces, sur 6 Pieds 1 Pouce de large." Just for interest, the text beneath the image in Galerie du Palais Royal… describes Titian dropping his brush while painting a portrait of Emperor Charles V in Spain in 1548. The Emperor picked up the brush. "Titian bowed before the Emperor to receive it saying: 'A servant yours does not merit so much honor'; to which the Emperor replied: 'Titian is worthy to be served by Caesar.'"[3]

See 34/N, La Danse Flamande, an etching by Guttenberg after a painting by van Mol also from the collection of the duc d'Orléans, which was included in vol. II (1808) of the Galerie du Palais Royal…. See also 73/V, an etching by Glairon-Mondet after Caravaggio, which is a full page with text and border from vol. I (1786) of Galerie du Palais Royal…. Compare 602/N with another work in the Miller collection, 590/V, a beautiful large etching and engraving of Saint Cecilia, signed with the name "Bouilliard." Undoubtedly, these two prints are by the same artist, probably Jacques Bouillard (ca. 1747-1806). Note the similarity of the fine stippling and curved strokes in the faces of the women in each print, as well as the way in which the hands are drawn.

About the Artists

Jacques Bouillard, engraver and painter, ca. 1747-1806

There is no artist named "Bouilliard" in Bénézit, though an engraver's name on another print in the Miller collection, 602/N, is spelled the same way. The only possibility seems to be Jacques Bouillard, a French engraver and painter, who was born about 1747 at Versailles, and who died in Paris in 1806. He was approved by the Académie Royale in 1788, but never became an Academician. Bouillard exhibited mostly engravings in the annual Salons. In 1806, he exhibited a Portrait of the Emperor.

Antoine Borel, painter, draughtsman and etcher, 18th century

There are several 19th-century artists by the name of "Borel" in Bénézit. Only two, both named Antoine Borel, lived in the late 18th and early 19th century. One, a miniaturist, who was born in Pesme in 1777 and who died in Besançon in 1838, does not seem like the right candidate. The other Antoine Borel does not have any life dates given. The entry in Bénézit states only that he was a French 18th-century painter, draughtsman and etcher, who exhibited paintings, drawings and engravings in the Salon of Correspondence in 1779 and 1780. The biographical information on Borel was derived from Bénézit, which includes a long listing of his works. His subjects included portraits, historical or mythological scenes, and at least one engraving after a work by Nicolas Poussin. Though Bénézit does not mention that Antoine Borel made any contributions as a draughtsman to the 3-volume publication, Galerie du Palais Royal…, 1786-1808, it may have been a possibility.

Titian, painter, draughtsman, printmaker, ca. 1488-1576

Titian was a renowned 16th-century Venetian painter, draughtsman and printmaker.[4]

1785-1841

after a painting by Sir David Wilkie, painter and etcher, 1785-1841

Before a shrine dedicated to the Virgin, three musicians play wind instruments while two women (one of whom holds a baby) and a man kneel before the image of Mary. The instrument played by two of the musicians is probably a piffaro, a double-reed instrument, an Italian folk shawm.[1] The other musician plays a bagpipe. It is a simple setting, in Rome, in which a devotional painting of the Madonna and Child is displayed on the side of a building and is illuminated by a wall-mounted lamp. The musicians and pilgrims stand or kneel on the small terrace and steps leading to the shrine.

The image is based on a painting by Sir David Wilkie of the same subject, painted in 1827, in the collection of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, in Buckingham Palace. Though this lithograph is signed "Rome / D. Wilkie," it does not seem likely that Wilkie created this lithograph himself. As a printmaker, Wilkie worked almost entirely in intaglio, though there may have been at least one instance when he experimented with lithography.[2] It would seem more probable, then, that this lithograph was created by an unknown artist after Wilkie.

The origin of the painting is described in the exhibition catalogue, Sir David Wilkie of Scotland, catalogue by H.A.D. Miles and David Blayney Brown, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, 1987, cat. no. 28, pp. 203-205. In 1825, Wilkie had gone to Rome to recover his health and in late November of that year he described in a letter the preparations for Holy Year celebrations during Christmas under Pope Leo XII. "Multitudes of pilgrims from all parts of Italy are assembled in the streets, in costumes remarkably fine and poetical…. Each party of pilgrims is accompanied by one whose duty is to give music to the rest. This is a piper, or pifferaro, provided with an immense bagpipe, of a rich deep tone…; while another man plays [the melody] on a smaller reed…. In parading the streets they stop before the image of the Virgin, whom they serenade, as shepherds, at this season, previous to Christmas, in imitation of shepherds of old, who announced the birth of the Messiah." It is believed that Wilkie began work on the painting the following year, in December 1826, and completed it in the spring of 1827. When Wilkie was again in London in 1828, the king asked to see his "Italian studies" and he purchased The Pifferari and another painting for the royal collection.

See 424/M, an engraving of this painting by J.C. Armytage created for a publication entitled The Wilkie Gallery: A Selection of the Best Pictures of the Late Sir David Wilkie, R.A. …: With Notices Biographical and Critical, [by W. H. Bartlett], London: Geo. Virtue, 1848-1850, which is mentioned in the same exhibition catalogue, p. 204. See also 63/L, a lithograph by the painter Victor Jeanneney of a single pifferaro.

About the Artist

Sir David Wilkie, painter and etcher, 1785-1841

1620-1683

after a painting by Nicolaes Berchem, called van Haarlem, landscape painter, draughtsman and etcher, 1620-1683

This is a beautifully rendered etching of a pair of herders -- a man and a woman -- crossing a stream with their animals. The woman holds her skirts and looks down as she walks to the right, stepping gingerly on stones in the stream. Two cows are next to her and a dog and a goat are just ahead of her. The man sits on a small horse or pony in the back of the group. He wears a coat lined with sheepskin and a wide-brimmed hat and he plays a transverse flute. The group passes before a grotto shadowed beneath enormous rocks that are covered with low vegetation and trees.

See 365/O, an etching by an unknown engraver, copied after a drawing by Berchem. In that etching, the herder is in nearly the same pose, wearing a similar coat and hat and playing a transverse flute.

About the Artists

Emmanuel-Jean-Nepomucéne de Ghendt, draughtsman and engraver, 1738-1815

Emmanuel-Jean-Nepomucéne de Ghendt, a Flemish draughtsman and engraver, was born near Antwerp in 1738, but died in Paris in 1815. Though Flemish by birth, de Ghent was considered an artist of the French school. His first artistic studies were with Michiel van der Voort II in Antwerp about 1756. De Ghendt joined the Paris workshop of Jacques Aliamet in 1766 and he was part of a group of printmakers in Paris known as the Abbeville school who made engravings and etchings after popular 17th-century Dutch landscape painters such as Nicolaes Berchem or Adriaen van de Velde. He contributed plates to the abbé de Saint-Non's Voyage pittoresque, ou Description des royaumes de Naples et de Sicile, which was published in five volumes in Paris from 1781-1786. De Ghendt also engraved Jan Steen's Skittle Players for Jean-Baptiste-Pierre Le Brun's 3-volume folio edition, Galerie des peintres flamands, hollandais et allemands, which was published in Paris from 1792-1796. De Ghendt was known for his charming book illustrations, his engravings after the drawings of Charles Eisen and Gravelot, as well as his vignettes after designs by Clement-Pierre Marillier and Jean-Michel Moreau, the younger. He did a celebrated series of prints, Le Matin, Le Jour, Le Soir, and La Nuit after a series, Quatre heures du jour, by Baudouin. De Ghendt also provided illustrations for plays and engraved plates for editions of the works of Voltaire and Rousseau.[1]

Nicolaes Berchem, called van Haarlem, landscape painter, draughtsman and etcher, 1620-1683

Nicolaes Berchem, a Dutch painter, draughtsman and etcher, was born in Haarlem in 1620 and died in Amsterdam in 1683. His surname had many variants - Berghem, Berighem, Berrighem - as did his first name - Claes, Claes Pietersz., or Nicolaes Pietersz. He was first taught drawing by his father, Pieter Claesz, at the guild of St. Luke in Haarlem in 1634. It is said that he studied painting with various masters, among them Jan van Goyen. Berchem became a member of the guild in 1642 and taught students there the same year. He was considered one of the most talented artists of his time, and painted a variety of subjects -- mostly landscapes, but also hunting scenes, battles, allegories, and history paintings. Berchem's early landscapes had a darker tonality but, after the 1650s, his landscapes were more panoramic and had softer, more light-infused tonalities, the result of his travels in Italy. Berchem had a fluid, light touch and the quality of his work was very fine. His most important works were the Italianate pastoral scenes of shepherds with their flocks which were much in demand by French collectors in the 18th century. Berchem was a prolific artist, producing over 800 paintings, 300 drawings and about 50 etchings. In the late 1650s, Berchem worked in Haarlem as well as Amsterdam, but eventually moved to Amsterdam in 1670, where he worked until his death in 1683.[2]

1778-1829

after a watercolor drawing by Brownlow North, amateur artist, 1778-1829

This is a caricature in which five amateur musicians - a woman and four men - perform in a drawing room. The woman is in white, seated in the center, and plays a piano. A cellist is at the left, a violinist is at the right and two flutists, playing one-keyed flutes, stand behind her. Guests in attendance are in the left and right background, while a dog sits at the right, howling, over music scores scattered on the carpet.

The artist is James Gillray (1756-1815), and the scene is based on a watercolor drawing by Brownlow North (1778-1829), who signed his name with a compass pointing north. Brownlow North's original watercolor, on which Playing in Parts is based, is in the Print Rooms of the British Museum. Gillray followed the original watercolor more closely in another of his etchings, Ars-Musica, which was published by Hannah Humphrey on February 16, 1800. Though Playing in Parts is based on the same watercolor by North, the scene has been expanded further by Gillray.[1] See 296/B and 675/B, also by or after James Gillray.

About the Artists

James Gillray, painter, draughtsman, caricaturist, engraver and etcher, 1756-1815

James Gillray was born in Chelsea, Middlesex, near London in 1756, and he died in London in 1815. He was brought up in a strict Moravian household but joined a group of strolling actors as a young man. By 1778, he had enrolled in the Royal Academy School in London as a student of Francesco Bartolozzi (1727-1815), a stipple engraver. (See works by Bartolozzi in the Miller collection, 443/R and 577/K.) He did produce a few stipple engravings as book illustrations for Tom Jones by Fielding (1780), and The Deserted Village by Goldsmith (1784), and painted some miniature portraits, including his own self-portrait. However, it is as a caricaturist that Gillray is most well known, especially for his witty political satires of the 1780s and 1790s, though he also produced social and personal satirical prints. The prints were popular and were sold in the shops of printsellers in London. After 1791, he was represented exclusively by Hannah Humphrey, a publisher who eventually settled at 27 St. James's Street, and with whom Gillray shared lodgings until his death in 1815. In all, Gillray produced about a thousand caricatures, two-thirds being political satires and one-third being personal satires. Occasionally, amateur artists such as the Rev. John Sneyd, M.A. (1763-1835), the Rector at Elford from 1792 to 1835, or Brownlow North (1778-1829), supplied drawings on which Gillray's etchings were based. Gillray's last signed plate is dated 1809. After this date, his health declined precipitously. His vision deteriorated and he had a mental collapse, his last years being described as a descent into madness. He was cared for by Mrs. Humphrey until his death.[2]

Brownlow North, amateur artist, 1778-1829

Biographical information on Brownlow North is provided in the British Museum catalogues by Mary Dorothy George. His life dates are given in the Index of Artists in Vol. VII, page 736, where is it also mentioned that he signed his name with a compass pointing to the north. He was an amateur artist, son of the Bishop of Winchester (also named Brownlow North, 1741-1820), who studied at Cambridge. Gillray first made an etching after a North drawing in 1800, though Baldrey etched some of North's drawings while he was a student at Cambridge in 1798 and 1799.[3]

1786-1865

Tulou is seated with his right arm resting on the back of a chair and he holds an open book in his left hand. The setting is a landscape with three tall poplars in the middle distance on the right. On a table at the right there is a music score, a flute and, leaning against the back of the table, a bassoon. He wears a cutaway coat, vest and cravat. Overall, the coloring is in mossy earth tones -- greens, browns, beiges, greenish-black coat, fawn-colored trousers, with touches of red on his mouth, the edge of the book, and on the watch fob in his waistcoat. The sky is golden. There appears to be a signature at the lower left of this watercolor, but the name is not legible. Given the life dates of Tulou and the style of clothing he wears, this watercolor probably dates to the early 19th century.

1715-1779

The setting is China. A long procession winds its way through the countryside in a ceremony to bring a new bride to her husband. A herald approaches the door of the husband at the lower right to announce her arrival. Musicians playing many instruments fill the foreground. The bride is not visible. She is apparently in an elaborate sedan chair - a large pavilion hung with tapestries - which is carried by porters in the middle distance. The procession continues far into the distance over a curved bridge above a stream that runs through the center of the composition. Among the musical instruments represented here, from the left under the umbrella, are: a stringed instrument played with a bow; a dizi, a type of Chinese flute; a shawm; a stringed instrument played with the fingers; a drum; and, a curved trumpet.

This illustration comes from a 25-volume book by the Abbé Prévost, Histoire générale des voyages….[1] This plate appears in volume 7, facing page 309, but the text describing this scene appears in volume 8 on page 26, and is part of a longer passage on Chinese marriage traditions. Volume 7, dated 1749, is entitled Voyages dans L'Asie. Livre Premier. Voyages dans L'Empire de Chine. Volume 8, also dated 1749, is a continuation of Volume 7, and is subtitled Suite du Livre Second. Description de la Chine, contenant la Geographie, et l'Histoire civile et naturelle du pays. The section on marriage is in Chapter II, part IV, "Mariages des Chinois," on pages 25 to 31. The text is in French and the wedding day is described thus:

The day of the wedding, the girl is placed in an ornate ceremonial sedan chair and is followed by those who carry her dowry. This is ordinarily [among the common people] a certain quantity of furniture that her father has given her, with her wedding clothes, which are locked in chests. A cortege of hired men accompanies her with torches in their hands, even in midday. Her sedan is preceded by pipers, hautbois players and drummers, and is followed by all the relatives and friends of her family. A trusted household servant keeps the key to the sedan and delivers it only to the husband, who awaits his bride at the door of his home. As soon as she has arrived, he receives the key from the servant and, hurrying to open the sedan, he then judges his good or his bad fortune…. As soon as the girl leaves her sedan, she walks at the side of her husband to the assembly room, where she begins with four bows of reverence which she directs to the 'Tyeu.' She directs four other bows to the relatives of her husband; after which she is placed into the hands of the women organizing the fête, with whom she passes the rest of the day in rejoicings, while her husband entertains the men in another room.

The Miller etching seems almost identical to that in Prévost. It may be a slightly weaker impression, but any weakness is hardly discernible. There is no evidence that the Miller plate has been reworked, thus the Miller etching may have been printed about the same time as the print in Prévost. The paper of the Miller print is softer than that in Prévost which is more crisp, and the placement of the folds in the Miller print is slightly different than in Prévost. The Miller sheet, not being trimmed to book dimensions, is larger than the page size of Prévost, but the dimensions of the Miller and Prévost platemarks are identical.

See also a hand-colored etching of this same print, 760/U, as well as images of musical instruments from Africa from volume 5 in Histoire générale des voyages, 624/Z and 625/Z.

About the Artist

Jakob van der Schley, or van Schley, draughtsman and engraver, 1715-1779

Jakob van der Schley, or van Schley, was a Dutch artist who was born in Amsterdam in 1715, according to Bénézit. He died in the same city in 1779. He was a student of Bernard Picart (1673-1733), whose style he imitated. According to Bénézit, van der Schley engraved mostly portraits as well as illustrations for La Vie de Marianne by Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux (1688-1763) which was published in The Hague from 1735 to 1747. Van der Schley also engraved the frontispieces for a 15-volume edition of the complete works of Pierre de Brantôme (1540-1614), Oeuvres du seigneur de Brantôme, published in The Hague in 1740, a copy of which is in the Folger Shakespeare Library, call number 222-635q. There is very little biographical information on Jakob van der Schley in Bénézit or other standard sources on artists. Most of the plates in the Hague edition of Prévost's Histoire générale des voyages (The Hague: P. de Honh2, 1747-1780) carry van der Schley's signature thus, his engravings and etchings for this publication must have been a significant part of his oeuvre.

1715-1779

The setting is China. A long procession winds its way through the countryside in a ceremony to bring a new bride to her husband. A herald approaches the door of the husband at the lower right to announce her arrival. Musicians playing many instruments fill the foreground. The bride is not visible. She is apparently in an elaborate sedan chair - a large pavilion hung with tapestries - which is carried by porters in the middle distance. The procession continues far into the distance over a curved bridge above a stream that runs through the center of the composition. Among the musical instruments represented here, from the left under the umbrella, are: a stringed instrument played with a bow; a dizi, a type of Chinese flute; a shawm; a stringed instrument played with the fingers; a drum; and, a curved trumpet.

This illustration (in its uncolored state) comes from a 25-volume book by the Abbé Prévost, Histoire générale des voyages….[1] This etching (uncolored) appears in volume 7, facing page 309, but the text describing this scene appears in volume 8 on page 26, and is part of a longer passage on Chinese marriage traditions. Volume 7, dated 1749, is entitled Voyages dans L'Asie. Livre Premier. Voyages dans L'Empire de Chine. Volume 8, also dated 1749, is a continuation of Volume 7, and is subtitled Suite du Livre Second. Description de la Chine, contenant la Geographie, et l'Histoire civile et naturelle du pays. The section on marriage is in Chapter II, part IV, "Mariages des Chinois," on pages 25 to 31. The text is in French and the wedding day is described thus:

The day of the wedding, the girl is placed in an ornate ceremonial sedan chair and is followed by those who carry her dowry. This is ordinarily [among the common people] a certain quantity of furniture that her father has given her, with her wedding clothes, which are locked in chests. A cortege of hired men accompanies her with torches in their hands, even in midday. Her sedan is preceded by pipers, hautbois players and drummers, and is followed by all the relatives and friends of her family. A trusted household servant keeps the key to the sedan and delivers it only to the husband, who awaits his bride at the door of his home. As soon as she has arrived, he receives the key from the servant and, hurrying to open the sedan, he then judges his good or his bad fortune…. As soon as the girl leaves her sedan, she walks at the side of her husband to the assembly room, where she begins with four bows of reverence which she directs to the 'Tyeu.' She directs four other bows to the relatives of her husband; after which she is placed into the hands of the women organizing the fête, with whom she passes the rest of the day in rejoicings, while her husband entertains the men in another room.

See the uncolored etching of this same print, 616/U, as well as images of musical instruments from Africa from volume 5 in Histoire générale des voyages, 624/Z and 625/Z.

About the Artist

Jakob van der Schley, or van Schley, draughtsman and engraver, 1715-1779

Jakob van der Schley, or van Schley, was a Dutch artist who was born in Amsterdam in 1715, according to Bénézit. He died in the same city in 1779. He was a student of Bernard Picart (1673-1733), whose style he imitated. According to Bénézit, van der Schley engraved mostly portraits as well as illustrations for La Vie de Marianne by Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux (1688-1763) which was published in The Hague from 1735 to 1747. Van der Schley also engraved the frontispieces for a 15-volume edition of the complete works of Pierre de Brantôme (1540-1614), Oeuvres du seigneur de Brantôme, published in The Hague in 1740, a copy of which is in the Folger Shakespeare Library, call number 222-635q. There is very little biographical information on Jakob van der Schley in Bénézit or other standard sources on artists. Most of the plates in the Hague edition of Prévost's Histoire générale des voyages (The Hague: P. de Honh2, 1747-1780) carry van der Schley's signature thus, his engravings and etchings for this publication must have been a significant part of his oeuvre.