Collection Complete Des Tableaux Historiques De La Révolution Française, En Deux Volumes: Le Premier, contenant les quatre-vingts premiers Discours et Gravures, depuis le Serment de l'Assemblée nationale, prononcé dans le jeu de Paume, à Versailles, le 20 juin 1789, jusqu'aux Journées des 31 mai, 1er et 2 juin 1793, 12, 13 et 14 prairial, an 1er de la République. Le Second, contenant les Discours et Gravures suivants, jusques et compris le tableau de la Paix générale, ainsi que les Portraits des Personnages qui ont le plus marqué dans la révolution, soit en bien, soit en mal; le tout exécuté par des hommes distingués dans les belles-lettres, le dessin et la gravure, et imprimé sur papier vélin par Didot l'aîné. - Tome Premier.
RA Collection: Book
Record number
07/2203
Imprint
A Paris,: De L'Imprimerie De Pierre Didot L'Aîné. Se vend à Paris, rue Lazare, chausée d'Antin, no 88., An VI De La République Française, (1798 v. st.).
Physical Description
2 vols. [in three]; 500 mm. (Folio.)
General Note
Vol. I: [4], vi, 272 p., frontis., 9, 68 pl. (Plates 5, 6 in the second sequence are numbered in reverse order.) - Vol. II: p. [2], 273-580, frontis., pl. 69-144. - Vol. III: [2], 27, [1], 12, 9, [3], 32, 9, [3], 11, [1], 19, [5], 4 p., frontis., [60] pl. (ports.)
Contents
Vol. I: [Half-t., t.p., frontis.] - Introduction Aux Tableaux Historiques De La Révolution Française - Premier (- Neuvieme) Discours Préliminaire Aux Tableaux Historiques ... [and 9 pl.] - [Text and 68 pl.]. - Vol. II: [Half-t., frontis.] - [Text and pl.]. - Vol. III: [Half-t., frontis.] - [Text, 2 blank leaves and 60 pl.] - Table Des Tableaux Historiques De La Révolution Française, En Trois Volumes; Liste Des Numéros Qui Composent L'Ouvrage.
Responsibility Note
In the first volume the frontispiece is signed as drawn by Fragonard fils and engraved by Malapeau. The nine plates of the first sequence are signed as drawn by Girardet or Meunier, etched by Girardet or Pélicier and engraved by Cl. Niquet, Duparc or L'Epine. The other numbered plates are all signed as drawn by Prieur and engraved by Berthault.
In the second volume the frontispiece is signed as drawn by Fragonard fils and engraved by Copia. Most numbered plates are signed as drawn by Swebach (Swecback) Desfontaines and engraved by Berthault, but some are signed as drawn by Duplessi Bertaux, Ozan(n)e, Fragonard fils, Girardet, J. Benizy dit Dubuisson or Desaulx, and as engraved by P.P. Choffard, Le Gouaz, Malapeau, Girardet, Desaulx or Dupréel.
In the third volume the frontispiece is signed as drawn by Fragonard fils and engraved by Copia. In the unnumbered plates the portraits are almost all signed as engraved by Levachez (a few with the names of source-artists - Mme Le Brun, Laneuville, Gérard, Bonnemaison); the vignettes are signed as drawn and etched by Duplessi(s) Bert(e)aux or 'JDB' (one as drawn and engraved by Reville). In this volume the two plates carrying portraits of Napoleon and Moreau carry the imprint of the publisher, 'A Paris, chez Auber, éditeur, Rue St. Lazare, chausée d'Antin, No. 88. Déposé ... An X.'
The front pastedowns of all three volumes carry the printed ticket of 'G. Alasonet' (bookseller? binder?).
References
C.M. Osborne, Pierre Didot the elder and French book illustration 1759-1822 (1985).
P. Bordes and R. Michel, Aux armes et aux arts! Les arts de la Révolution 1789-1799 (1988); T. Crow, Painters and public life in eighteenth-century Paris (1985).
Among studies of the painter / engraver Swebach Desfontaines were A.W.W. Wellington, 'Two war artists under Napoleon and the Tsar ...', in Connoisseur, 193 (1976 December), p.300-9; E. André, 'Swebach-Desfontaines', in Gaz. B.-A., 2 (1904), p.376-8, 490-99.
Summary Note
Only the first volume has a title page. The text and plates of the first two volumes are numbered continuously, but their half-titles read 'Tableaux Historiques De La Révolution Française' and 'Tableaux Historiques De La Révolution Française. - Second Volume.'; while the half-title of the third volume reads 'Tableaux Historiques De La Révolution Française. - Troisième Volume.' The date of 1803 (?) appears to be carried by the portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte in the third volume. The Liste Des Numéros in the third volume states that the plates of the first two volumes were issued serially in four preliminary livraisons and 72 livraisons.
In the first two volumes the frontispieces show allegoric figures representing (vol. 1) the Triumph of Liberty and (vol. 2) the French Republic; and the numbered plates show historical incidents in the course of the French revolution (mostly in Paris but some in the provinces or outside France). In the third volume the frontispiece shows a table of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, and the unnumbered plates show each a mezzotint portrait of a person involved in the revolution, above a small etched vignette showing an incident in his or her life and an engraved text describing his or her actions in more detail. In the second volume plate 123 ('Valeur Des Assignats') has been partly coloured by hand.
Provenance
Purchased for RA Library in 1883 (see RA Annual Report for 1883, pp. 44, 46). The front pastedown of the first volume is inscribed in pencil by 'J.E.H.', i.e. John Evan Hodgson RA, librarian of the Royal Academy 1882-95.
Binding Note
18th-century quarter calf, mottled-papered boards; gilt-decorated spines, brown and black morocco spine-labels lettered 'Tableaux Historiques De La Révolution Française' 'Tome I(-III)'.
Subject
French - Politics - Revolutions - Celebrities - France - Paris - Constitutional history - History - 18th century
Drawings - Narrative art - Portraits - France - 18th century
Speeches - Essays - France - 18th century
Pictorial works - France - 18th century