Grégoire HURET
(Lyon 1606 - Paris 1670)
Design for the Frontispiece for Francisco de Mendoça’s Viridarium sacrae ac profanae eruditionis
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Red chalk and wash, incised with a stylus for transfer, with framing lines in red chalk.
317 x 212 mm. (12 1/2 x 8 3/8 in.)
317 x 212 mm. (12 1/2 x 8 3/8 in.)
This impressive sheet is a preparatory study for the frontispiece to Viridarium sacrae ac profanae eruditionis, a text written by the Jesuit Francisco de Mendoça – whose portrait is depicted in the lower centre of the present sheet - and published by Jacques Cardon in 1632, six years after the author’s death.
During Grégoire Huret’s time in Lyon he was mainly active as an illustrator, with a particular specialization in designs for frontispieces, and often received commissions from the Jesuits. There are some differences between the drawing and the final print, most notably the angel, who appears in flight over the garden in this study, but is placed within a niche in the engraving.
During Grégoire Huret’s time in Lyon he was mainly active as an illustrator, with a particular specialization in designs for frontispieces, and often received commissions from the Jesuits. There are some differences between the drawing and the final print, most notably the angel, who appears in flight over the garden in this study, but is placed within a niche in the engraving.
Provenance
Galerie Paul Prouté, Paris, in 1970
Jammes collection, Paris.
Jammes collection, Paris.
Literature
Emmanuelle Brugerolles and David Guillet, ‘Grégoire Huret, dessinateur et graveur’, Revue de l’art, 1997, pp.10 and 14, illustrated p.13, fig.5; Louis-Antoine Prat, Le dessin Français au XVIIe siècle, Paris, 2013, p.219, fig.500.