18thC. FRENCH: A TOWN SQUARE. ETCHED by CARL GUILLAUME WEISBROD [CHOISEUL]

Description: ORIGINAL 18th CENTURY FRENCH ETCHING after the Old Master painting by JAN VAN DER HEYDEN in the Collection of the Duc de Choiseul. 1771. Etched by CARL GUILLAUME WEISBROD (German, 1743-1806) A town square with a large church to the right, many figures in the centre, including a woman at a well (right) Signed by Weisbrod bottom left corner and inscribed in the caption area with its impressive ornate typography and the crest of the Duc de Choiseul. Dimensions: 161 x 146 millimetres. Condition/Technical : Very good - a lovely impression. Full platemark visible, good full margins. A deep, strong evenly-inked impression. Printed on heavy "laid" eighteenth century paper. Online reference: British Museum 1858,0417.1130 My last photo shows the title page to the collection, just for further provenance. THE PATRON: Etienne-Francois, Duc de Choiseul (1719-1785). After a distinguished career in the army, he married the daughter of Crozat (incidentally, another notable art collector), and thereby gained the patronage of Madame de Pompadour, the mistress of King Louis XV. He was made Ambassador to the Holy See in Rome, and then became Minister of Foreign Affairs, and subsequently Minister of War and the Navy. After Pompadour's death in 1772 he fell from favour, was disgraced and went into exile. During his lifetime he amassed a huge art collection, mainly works of the Northern Schools by the Dutch and Flemish Old Masters. Some of his collection was sold off in 1772 after Pompadour's death, and the remainder was sold in 1786 on his own death. THE PROJECT: In around 1769/1770 Choiseul instructed Pierre-Francois Basan, the pre-eminent art expert of the day and an accomplished engraver and publisher in his own right with a large studio and publishing house, to organise a printed catalogue of the paintings. This was to be a vast and prestigious project, and we may surmise that no expense was spared. Basan put together a large team of draughtsman and engravers to undertake the work under his own supervision. These included Dunker, Masquelier, J. Peny, R. Delvaux, Martini, J.P.Le Bas, Binet, Maleuvre, Weisbrod, Pruneau, Romanet, Germain, Baquoy, Daudet, De Launay, St. Aubin and Levesque....and others.The result was the "Recueil d'estampes gravees d'apres les tableux du Cabinet de Monseigneur le Duc de Choiseul", which actually appeared in 1772 despite having a title-page with the date 1771. There were 127 plates in all, depicting works by Teniers, Dujardin, Potter, Metzu, Terborcht, Van Ostade, Berghem, Wouwermans, Ruisdael, Van der Velde, Backhuysen, Rembrandt, Salvator Rosa, Murillo, Titian - just to name a few.Following the dispersal of Choiseul's collection, many of the original paintings have since "disappeared" from public view, and so the prints in this volume are an important part of the art historical record.There is of course, an irony in the timing of all of this; the project, so long in the planning and execution, more or less coincided with Choiseul's fall from grace. ***ALL MY ITEMS ARE SENT - UK & WORLDWIDE - BY TRACKED ROYAL MAIL SERVICE, FOR EVERYONE'S PEACE OF MIND. *** I COMBINE ITEMS FOR SHIPPING ***

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End Time: 2024-09-26T19:26:40.000Z

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