Lemire Aîné (Joseph Lemire) (fl. 1793-1819) (after)
Bertrand (engraver)
Set of Four Seasons Prints: Le Printemps (No. 254), L'Ete (No. 255), L'Automne, L'Hiver
A Paris chez Jean, Rue St.-Jean-de-Beauvais, No. 10: 15 February 1812
Hand-colored stipple engravings
17 x 11.5 inches each
Provenance: Collection of Charles McManus, interior designer, Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia
Sold, please inquire as to the availability of similar items.
Allegories of the Four Seasons
Paris: 1812
Paris: 1812
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Allegories of the four seasons, each personified by a young woman. Spring's head is garlanded with flowers, Autumn's is crowned with leaves turning color, Summer's headscarf is decorated with small sheafs of wheat and Winter's hair is decorated with snow-white pearls and she wears a fur coat. Although the prints are subtitled "drawn from nature by Lemire Aîné" they are less portraits than they are highly stylized neoclassical feminine types, with round eyes, long straight noses and small full lips.
According to the subtitle in the lower margin, Lemire Aîné (Lemire the Elder, whose given name was Joseph) was Professor of Design at the l'Ecole Polytechnique. The printing firm "A Paris chez Jean" produced dozens of prints after his paintings between 1812 and 1830.
Jean was a publisher in Paris on the rue St. Jean de Beauvais. The firm appears in the Bibliographe de France, a 19th-century registry of prints, from 1811 to 1838.
References:
"ARTFL Project: The Image of France Report." http://duras.uchicago.edu/ +aine&title=&pub=&period=&id= (5 August 2002).