Accession number
PML 198162, fol. 87, no. 1
Creator
Gillot, Claude, 1673-1722, printmaker.
Published
[Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], [between 1700 and 1705]
Credit line
Purchased on the Gordon N. Ray Fund, 2018.
Notes
Unsigned.
Evidently an early state of an etching by Claude Gillot after a drawing by the artist depicting a scene from an anonymous French three-act play based on the earlier Italian comedy "Arlecchino ladro, sbirro e giudice"; performed as early as 1667 at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal Parisand, and entitled "Arlequin larron, prévot et juge". Cf. Tonkovich, J. Claude Gillot and the theater, 2002, p. 251-255.
Forms part of a collection of 586 etchings by and after Claude Gillot, mounted into a bound album by a former owner, with letterpress title page reading "Oeuvres de Gillot." (see PML 198162).
Library's copy trimmed to platemark.
Evidently an early state of an etching by Claude Gillot after a drawing by the artist depicting a scene from an anonymous French three-act play based on the earlier Italian comedy "Arlecchino ladro, sbirro e giudice"; performed as early as 1667 at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal Parisand, and entitled "Arlequin larron, prévot et juge". Cf. Tonkovich, J. Claude Gillot and the theater, 2002, p. 251-255.
Forms part of a collection of 586 etchings by and after Claude Gillot, mounted into a bound album by a former owner, with letterpress title page reading "Oeuvres de Gillot." (see PML 198162).
Library's copy trimmed to platemark.
Description
1 print : etching ; image: 168 x 218 mm; sheet: 198 x 235 mm
Provenance
Acquired in Paris by Henry Fiennes Pelham-Clinton (1720-1794), Duke of Newcastle, Clumber Library, ca. 1750 (his arms on the front cover); by descent until his library was dispersed at Christie's, London, in four parts between 21 June 1937 and 14 February 1938; Fernand Pouillon (1912-1986), Jardin de Flore, Paris, Cent livres illustrés du XV au XX siècle (1977), item 40; Librarie Fernand de Nobele, Paris, Livres sur les beaux-arts, les arts decoratifs et les objets de collection, bibliographie, imprimerie (1981), lot no. 39204; André Jammes (b. 1927), Paris; sale, Paris, Hotel Drouot, 28 November 2018, lot 3.
Summary
Print shows a commedia dell'arte courtroom scene, with Harlequin presiding as judge, seated in a chair on a dais below a canopy, and wearing an exaggerated version of a crown-shaped advocate's toque; at right, a prisoner stands before him with his hands held out in a pleading gesture; he is bound with a rope which is held by Mezzetino, who stands behind him; at left, Pierrot sits at a table acting as clerk; Pulcinella, armed with a musket, stands at attention directly behind Harlequin at right; seated at Harlequin's immediate left, and leaning over to address him, is a masked figure wearing a black gown with a white collar.
Classification
Catalog link
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