Accession number
PML 198162, fol. 97
Creator
Gillot, Claude, 1673-1722, printmaker.
Published
[Paris] : [Chez Huquier], [1722?]
Credit line
Purchased on the Gordon N. Ray Fund, 2018.
Notes
Before letters; title from finished state of print.
The finished state of this print, as published by Huqier, is signed "Gillot inv et sculp.", numbered "3" at upper right, and lettered: Baccus / A Paris chez Huquier vis-à-vis le grand Châtelet Avec priv. du Roi.
"From a series of six designs for folding screens or tapestries. The whole set was meant to be engraved by Gillot after his own designs; however the artist died in 1722, leaving five plates unfinished and another (Thetis) lost. The unfinished plates were bought by Parisian publisher Gabriel Huquier, who commissioned Charles Nicolas Cochin to finish them and to replace the missing plate by a new one engraved by him after Gillot's preparatory drawing (1737). The plates remained in Huquier's possession until his death in 1772, when they were sold to Jacques François Chéreau."--Curator's comments, British Museum online catalog.
2nd state of 4, as described by Populus, before all letters; Gillot's unfinished preliminary etching, with slight additions evidently made to the plate when compared to the 1st state, but with various elements of the design still left unfinished or absent throughout, including the figure of Bacchus, central medallion, the figure of the nymph at lower left, vine decoration, etc.; Gillot's plate ultimately completed for publication circa 1737 by Ch. N. Cochin fils.
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 plate mark.
The finished state of this print, as published by Huqier, is signed "Gillot inv et sculp.", numbered "3" at upper right, and lettered: Baccus / A Paris chez Huquier vis-à-vis le grand Châtelet Avec priv. du Roi.
"From a series of six designs for folding screens or tapestries. The whole set was meant to be engraved by Gillot after his own designs; however the artist died in 1722, leaving five plates unfinished and another (Thetis) lost. The unfinished plates were bought by Parisian publisher Gabriel Huquier, who commissioned Charles Nicolas Cochin to finish them and to replace the missing plate by a new one engraved by him after Gillot's preparatory drawing (1737). The plates remained in Huquier's possession until his death in 1772, when they were sold to Jacques François Chéreau."--Curator's comments, British Museum online catalog.
2nd state of 4, as described by Populus, before all letters; Gillot's unfinished preliminary etching, with slight additions evidently made to the plate when compared to the 1st state, but with various elements of the design still left unfinished or absent throughout, including the figure of Bacchus, central medallion, the figure of the nymph at lower left, vine decoration, etc.; Gillot's plate ultimately completed for publication circa 1737 by Ch. N. Cochin fils.
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 plate mark.
Description
1 print : etching ; image: 271 x 173 mm; sheet: 301 x 183 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
Design for a folding screen or a tapestry, after Gillot, with Bacchus standing on a pedestal, holding a spear and bunch of grapes, set within an ornamental frame incorporating Bacchic elements, including herms, winecups, wineskins, vines, a thyrsus and shepherds crook, and two seated figures, a nymph (left; lightly indicated in this state) and a satyr (right) at the base of the pedestal; with a central medallion design in the middle of the pedestal showing a mythological scene (blank in this state).
Classification
Catalog link
Department