Musée Des Monumens Français, Ou Description Historique et chronologique des Statues en marbre et en bronze, Bas-reliefs et Tombeaux des Hommes et des Femmes célèbres, pour servir à l'Histoire de France et à celle de l'Art; Ornée De Gravures; Et Augmentée d'Une Dissertation sur les Costumes de chaque siècle; Par Alexandre Lenoir, Fondateur Et Administrateur Du Musée. [Epigraph]
A Paris,: De L'Imprimerie De Guilleminet, rue de la Harpe, no 117. -, An IX. - 1800. ( - 1806.)
Physical Description
5 vols.; 216 mm. (Octavo.)
General Note
Vol. I: [4], 240 p., pl. 1-44 [i.e. 45 pl. - with bis pl. 19]. - Vol. II: [4], cxxiv, 160 p., pl. 45-88 [with bis pl. 61]. - Vol. III: [4], 160 p., pl. 89-133 [with bis pl. 114; pl. 95 is bound in after 97; 101 before 99; 121 is misnumbered as '125']. - Vol. IV: [4], 203, [1] p., pl. 136-165 [pl. 148 is bound in after 156; plates 159-65 are folding]. - Vol. V: [4], 352 p., pl. [166]-215 [pl. 175 is bound in before 173, and 208 before 207; pl. 171, 196, 204, 209 are folding]. - The first plate in each volume is an added engraved title-plate.
Contents
Vol. I: [Half-t., add.t.pl. = pl.1, t.p.] - Avant-Propos - Tableau Des Artistes Cités ... - Introduction - [Text and pl.]. - Vol. II: [Half-t.] - Avertissement - [Add.t.pl. = pl. 45, t.p.] - Chronologie Généalogique Des Rois De France (with pl.) - Notes Historiques Sur Les Exhumations Faites En 1793, Dans L'Abbaye De Saint-Denis - Introduction (with pl.) - [Text and pl.]. - Vol. III: [Half-t.] - Avertissement - [Add.t.pl. = pl. 89, t.p.] - Introduction (with pl.) - [Text and pl.]. - Vol. IV: [Half-t., add.t.pl. = pl. 136, t.p.] - Introduction (with pl.) - [Text and pl.] - [Folding pl.] - Vol. V: [Half-t.,] - Avertissement - [Port. = pl. [166], add.t.pl. = pl. 167, t.p.] - Introduction (with pl.) - [Text and pl.] - Elysée Du Musée Des Monumens Français (with pl.) - Résumé Général (with pl.) - Table Alphabétique Et Historique Des Matières.
Responsibility Note
Most plates are signed as drawn by Lenoir(e) or Percier and engraved by (L.) Guyot (or 'LG' or 'G'). But some are signed as drawn by LeRoy, 'G', Guyot, A. Guyot, David, Vautier, N. Bureau(x), Germain Pilou, Vauzelle, Beauvallet, De la fontaine, Michalon or Leviel, and engraved by Percier, Beauvallet or Baltard.
References
Royal Institute of British Architects, British Architectural Library ... Early printed books, 2 (1995), no. 1822, p.965-6.
F. Haskell, History and its images (1993), p.236-52; E. Kennedy, A cultural history of the French Revolution (1989); C.M. Greene, 'Alexandre Lenoir and the Musée', in Fr. Hist. Stud. (1981), p.200-22; S. Mellon, 'Alexandre Lenoir: the Museum versus the Revolution', in Proceedings of the Consortium on Revolutionary Europe, 9 (1979), p.75-88; B. Foucart, 'La fortune critique d'Alexandre Lenoir', in Inf. Hist. A., 14:5 (1969), p.223-32; J.E. Biet, Souvenirs du Musée des Monumens Français (1821-6).
Summary Note
Publication-dates are given on the five title-pages as: 1800, 1801, 1802, 1805 and 1806.
The title of Volume V replaces the words 'Ornée de Gravures ... Du Musée' with the words 'Augmentée d'une Dissertation sur les Costumes de chaque Siècle, d'une Table alphabétique et analytique des Matières, et d'un certain nombre de Gravures; Par Alexandre Lenoir, Administrateur du Musée des Monumens français, Membre de l'Académie celtique de France, et celle des Sciences, Lettres et Arts de Nancy.'
The half titles read, 'Musée Des Monumens Français. Tome Premier (-Cinquième)'. The last has the words 'Tome Cinquième' as a cancel-slip pasted over an original 'Tome Sixième'. This possibly indicates that at some time it was intended to include Lenoir's Musée Des monumens Français; Histoire De la Peinture Sur Verre (1803) as a volume within this series (although the Avertissement of that volume expressly states 'Ce volume est absolument isolé des autres, et ne dérange en rien la marche ...').
The imprint of Volume IV replaces the name of the printer Guilleminet with the words 'Chez l'Auteur ... Laurent Guyot ... De L'Imprimerie D'Hacquart ... 1805'; and that of Volume V with the words 'Chez F. Buisson ... L'Auteur ... Laurent Guyot ... 1806' (with the name of the printer Hacquart on the half-title verso).
To Lenoir must go the credit for saving and collecting many works of art endangered when French revolutionaries began desecrating churches. In 1796 he persuaded the French government to display the collection in a Musée des Antiquités et Monuments Français in the former house and garden of the Petits-Augustins. When he continued collecting long after the danger of vandalism had passed, critics such as Quatremère de Quincy and Chateaubriand wrote strongly against displacing so many works of art from their proper contexts; and in 1816 the process began of restoring the works to their original homes.
The volumes describe monuments I. from earliest times to the 13th century; II. of the 14th and 15th centuries; III. and IV. of the 16th century; V. of the 17th century.
Provenance
'Produced Two Vols: of the Antiquities of France, recommended by Mr. Flaxman & they being approved of, - it was Resolved, that the remainder of the Work as Published be taken; & that M.r Taylor be ordered to procure them.' (RA Council Minutes III, 12 November 1802).
Copy Note
Imperfect: Vol. I wanting pl. 43.
Binding Note
20th-century half calf, marbled-papered boards; gilt-decorated spines, red morocco spine-labels lettered 'Musée Des Monumens Français', spines lettered 'I (- V)'.
Subject
French - Celebrities - Costume - France - History
Monuments - Sculpture - Bas-reliefs - Tombs - France - History
Collections - Museums - France - Paris - 18th century - 19th century
Catalogues - Guidebooks - France - 19th century
Pictorial works - France - 19th century