Plagiarizing Gersaint
[Drop-title]: Catalogue de Tableaux, Provenans de la Gallerie & du Cabinet de…qui seront vendus le Mercredy 12, Avril 1747…
47 pp. Small 8vo (169 x 102 mm.), modern marbled boards, gilt title on spine. [Paris: 1747].
A scarce and early auction catalogue dispersing a substantial collection of paintings belonging to a “Baron de Banckheim,” possibly a fictitious provenance. We also do not know the expert in charge of this sale, but we do see that they borrowed heavily from the celebrated catalogues of the leading art dealer of the time, Edme François Gersaint (1694-1750). The foremost scholar on Gersaint, Guillaume Glorieux, writes that a number of catalogues of this period plagiarized the authoritative biographies of artists composed by Gersaint.
This catalogue offers 121 paintings, many of which are thoroughly described, with measurements provided. Most of the pictures are by Dutch and Flemish artists, such as J. van Ruisdael, Jordaens, Hondius, G. van Honthorst, etc.
Nice copy. With the engraved bookplate of G[eorges] P[annier] (1853-1944), the Parisian art dealer and collector of early art auction catalogues, on the front paste-down; and stamp of the Bibliothèque Heim and the ownership inscription of “Simonet expert 1857,” both on the first page.
❧ Lugt 662. G. Glorieux, A L’Enseigne de Gersaint (2002), pp. 396-97.
Price: $650.00
Item ID: 7250
