Two Louvre Exhibitions

Notice des Tableaux des Ecoles Française et Flamande, Exposés dans la grande Galerie, dont l’ouverture a eu lieu le 18 Germinal an VII; et des Tableaux des Ecoles de Lombardie et de Bologne, dont l’exposition a eu lieu le 25 Messidor an IX.

1 p.l., ii, 152 pp. Small 8vo (160 x 100 mm.), cont. calf-backed paste-paper boards (tail of spine worn), spine gilt, green morocco lettering-piece on spine. [Paris]: L’Imprimerie des Sciences et Arts, [?1801].

The uncommon second printing of this exhibition livret, with 945 works described. The present catalogue has combined the contents of two great exhibitions, the first of French and Flemish pictures, the other consisting of Italian paintings looted from Lombardy and Bologna. Both were held in the grande Galerie of the Musée central des Arts (now the Louvre). As explained in the Avertissement, the artworks from the exhibitions were combined into the present livret to avoid forcing “la classe le moins fortunée” to buy two separate catalogues.

The exhibitions presented an impressive array of artists from these schools, such as Boullogne, S. Bourdon, C. Le Brun, Chardin, N. Coypel, Largillière, Parrocel, Poussin, C. Vanloo, Vernet, N. Berchem, Cuyp, Dou, Dürer, van Dyck, van Goyen, Holbein, Dujardin, Jordaens, Metsu, Matsys, A. & I. van Ostade, Potter, Rembrandt, Rubens, Ruysdael, Teniers, Wouwerman, Wijnants, An. & L. Carracci, Caravaggio, Domenichino, Guercino, Schedoni, Veronese, da Vinci, del Piombo, etc. The Mona Lisa is number 923.

The majority of entries are thoroughly described, and often the compilers added valuable biographical information. This was at a time when scholarship of Italian art was sorely underdeveloped, and the French were finally able to conduct foundational research, thanks to the concentration of paintings culled from France’s national collections and those seized in Italy.

Very good copy in a nice contemporary binding. The first printing cited by Marquet de Vasselot (no. 114) has only 944 entries. Ownership stamp of “A. E. Pratt,” likely Antwerp Edgar Pratt (1852-1924), the English explorer and naturalist.

❧ Marquet de Vasselot, Répertoire des catalogues du Musée du Louvre (1793-1926) (1927), 115.

Price: $350.00

Item ID: 6725

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