Figures De Differents Caracteres, de Paysages, & d'Etudes Dessinées D'Après Nature Par Antoine Watteau Peintre du Roy en son Académie Royale de Peinture et Sculpture Gravées àl'Eau forte par des plus habiles Peintres et Graveurs du Temps Tirées Des Plus Beaux Cabinets De Paris. Tome Premier. (Second & Dernier.)
RA Collection: Book
Record number
06/1119
Uniform Title
[Recueil Jullienne. Vols. 1-2]
Variant Title
Suitte des Etudes d'apres Nature par Antoine Watteau peintre du Roy
Etudes d'apres Nature par Antoine Watteau
Imprint
a Paris: chez Audran Graveur du Roy en son Hotel Royal des Goblins et Chez F. Chereau graveur du Roy, ruë St. Jacques aux deux pilliers d'Or., [1726 - 1728]
Physical Description
2 vols.; 450 mm.
General Note
Vol. I: [6] f., port., [101] leaves carrying 132 pl. - Two of the six unnumbered leaves carrying engraved text carry text on both rectos and versos. - Vol. II: [2] f., frontis., [121] leaves carrying pl.133-350, [1]. (In the copy described by Dacier and Vuaflart there is an unnumbered pl. not at the end but between pl. 270 and 271.)
Contents
Vol. I: [T.pl.] - Abrégé de la Vie D'Antoine Watteau Peintre du Roy en son Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture - Epitaphe De Watteau - Preface - Watteavi Pictoris Epitaphium - Avertissement - [Port.] - [Plates 1-132]. - Vol. II: [T.pl.] - [Pl.133 = add. engr. t.pl., 'Suitte des Etudes d'apres Nature par Antoine Watteau, peintre du Roy'] - [Plates 134-350, [1]].
Responsibility Note
Most numbered plates are signed as drawn by Watteau, and as engraved by Jean Audran, L. Desplaces, Charles Dupuis, C.N. Cochin, Edme Jeaurat, Benoit Audran, N.C. Silvestre, Laurent Cars, François Bernard Lépicié, François Boucher, P.C. Trémolières, Carl Vanloo, Jean de Jullienne, comte de Caylus, 'M' (Montullé?). Most signatures are given in the form of initials only. The unnumbered plate at the end of Vol. II in the Royal Academy's copy is signed as drawn by Watteau and engraved by Boucher.
The portrait of Watteau in Volume I is signed as painted by Watteau and engraved by Boucher. The frontispiece of Volume II is signed as designed and engraved by Boucher.
The leaves of engraved text in both volumes are signed as engraved by F. Baillieul l'aisne. The title-plate of Volume I is signed as scripted by Roland and engraved by Baillieul.
References
M. Roland Michel, 'Watteau et les Figures de différents caractères', in Antoine Watteau (1684-1721), le peintre, son temps et sa légende, ed. F. Moreau and M. Morgan Grasselli (1987), p.117-27.
G. Glorieux, 'L'Angleterre et Watteau au XVIIIe siècle: la reception de la fete galante', in British Art Journal, 7:2 (2006); M.R. Michel, 'Watteau and England', in The Rococo in England, ed. C. Hind (1986), p.46-59; R. Raines, 'Watteau and "Watteaus" in England before 1760', in Gaz. B.-A., 6th ser. 89 (1977), p.51-64; M. Eidelberg, 'Watteau's paintings in England in the early eighteenth century', in Burlington Magazine, 117 (1975), p.576-82; E. Dacier, A. Vuaflart and J. Herold, Jean De Jullienne Et Les Graveurs De Watteau Au XVIIIe Siècle (4 v., 1921-9).
Summary Note
The Academy's copy lacks the engraved title-plate in both volumes. It is possible that these title-plates were suppressed in those copies that were issued in sets with the two further volumes of the so-called 'Recueil Jullienne' completed in 1739 which were given the more general title of Oeuvres des estampes gravées d'après les tableaux et les desseins de feu Antoine Watteau(q.v.). In Volume II the first numbered plate (pl. 133) reads 'Suitte des Etudes d'apres Nature par Antoine Watteau peintre du Roy'; this title has been adopted by the binder for the lettering of the spines of the RA copy.
This work - published thanks to the efforts and financial support of the businessman and amateur engraver, Jean de Jullienne, who owned more than five hundred of Watteau's drawings - is a good example of the increasing appreciation in the early eighteenth century of drawings as works of art in their own right. This appreciation encouraged engravers in attempts to convey the effects of pastel, chalk and other graphic media.
Provenance
Purchased (together with the two further volumes of the 'Recueil Jullienne') at the sale of Andrew Geddes' collection (Christie and Manson, London, 8-13 April 1845) for 47 guineas.
Copy Note
Imperfect: wanting the title-plate in both volumes. With the 'Avertissement' and frontispiece of Volume II misbound among the unnumbered preliminary leaves of Volume I.
Binding Note
18th-century mottled calf, rebacked in 20th century; gilt-decorated spine, brown morocco spine-labeles lettered 'Etudes De Watteau Tom. I. (II.)'.
Men - Women - Children - Landscapes (environments) - Pastoral - France - History - 18th century
Drawings - Landscapes (representations) - France - 18th century
Pictorial works - France - 18th century