Philibert-Louis De Bucourt (1755-1832) (artist and engraver)
Les Bouquets ou La Fête de la Grand-Maman, Dedies aux Meres de Famille
[The Bouquets, or Grandmother's Party, Dedicated to the Mothers of the Family]
Le Compliment ou La Matinée du Jour de L'an, Dediee aux Peres de Famille
[The Compliment, or New Year's Morning, Dedicated to the Fathers of the Family]
Paris : 1788 and 1787, respectively
Hand-colored aquatint with roulette work
14.75 x 11.5 inches, overall
20.75 x 17.5 inches, in antique gold-leaf frames, French mats
Provenance: Lucien Goldschmidt, Inc. (label verso)
Sold, please inquire as to the availability of similar items.
Les Bouquets & Le Compliment
Philibert-Louis De Bucourt, 1787-88
Philibert-Louis De Bucourt, 1787-88
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Pair of separately issued Louis XVI period portrait scenes depicting wealthy French families spending time together, dressed in period clothing. One is dedicated to fathers, the other to mothers. Each scene is set within an oval, rendered in a wash manner. Les Bouquets is printed in two shades of blue, red, brown, pink, yellow, and black inks. Le Compliment is printed in blue, red, yellow, carmine, and black inks. These genre prints document the genteel life of the upper classes, which was soon to change drastically with the French Revolution.
These prints were both exhibited at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., in the show Colorful Impressions: The Printmaking Revolution in Eighteenth-Century France (October 2003 - February 2004). According to the National Gallery, the second half of the 18th century in France was "one of the most innovative periods in the history of color printmaking. [N]ewly invented engraving and etching techniques were combined with new ways of printing a single image from multiple plates. Thus, for the first time, full-color prints could be created from just four basic colors: red, yellow, blue, and black. Within a matter of decades, thousands of images were produced, including some of the most complex and beautiful color prints ever made."
De Bucourt was one of the leading printmakers of the era, and is prominently featured in the exhibition. The prints appealed to the middle classes, who could show their taste and refinement by decorating their homes with affordable replicas of the paintings that hung in the mansions and palaces of the elite. Therefore, once the Revolution occurred, the market for finely crafted prints of this type vanished.
Philibert-Louis De Bucourt was a French painter and printmaker who specialized in genre painting and prints in the Flemish style, then very popular in Paris. Many of his paintings depicted French peasant life. He was a member of the Académie Royale, Paris, and began exhibiting in the Salon exhibitions in 1781. He executed a few plates in mezzotint after his own designs but worked mostly in aquatint, producing prints after Carle Vernet and others.
The prints previously belonged to Lucien Goldschmidt (1912-1992). Born in Brussels, he began working in the auction business at age 18 for European firms, eventually opening a shop in New York in 1937, where he was a dealer of drawings and books until 1987. Goldschmidt was also a member of the Art Dealers Association of America and of the Grolier Club (1963-1992). His private collection was sold at auction by Swann Galleries of New York City in 1994.
References:
"Colorful Impressions." National Gallery of Art. 2003. http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/colorfulinfo.htm (15 December 2003).
Fenaille. Nos. 15 & 16
Le Blanc II. Nos. 22 & no. 25
"Philibert-Louis De Bucourt." The Grove Dictionary of Art. New York: Macmillan. 2000. Artnet.com. http://www.artnet.com/library/02/0217/T021711.asp (15 December 2003).
Portalis & Béraldi. Vol II, No. 2.
Williamson, George C., ed. Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers. Vol. 1. London: G. Bell and Sons: 1930. p. 207.
"Exhibition Checklist: Colorful Impressions: The Printmaking Revolution in Eighteenth-Century France." October 26, 2003 - February 16, 2004. Catalog Nos. 067 and 068. National Gallery of Art. 16 October 2003. http://www.nga.gov/press/2003/exhibitions/201/201list.pdf (15 December 2003).