18th Century FRENCH SCHOOL
Two Designs for Pendant Trophies with Attributes of Music
Pen and grey ink and grey wash on buff paper.
263 x 211 mm. (10 3/8 x 8 3/8 in.)
Watermark: Coat of arms.
263 x 211 mm. (10 3/8 x 8 3/8 in.)
Watermark: Coat of arms.
As the scholar Peter Fuhring has written, ‘Since the mid-sixteenth century, trophies – originally composed of arms taken from the enemy and presented in victory parades – had become a standard ingredient of the decorative arts. As an ornament, trophies were adapted to circumstances and the choice of elements that were generally hung from a string or ribbon could illustrate a great variety of secular and religious themes…In the first half of the eighteenth century, numerous designers and sculptors such as Jean-Bernard Toro, François Roumier and Alexis Peyrotte took an interest in trophies. The presentation of the elements was adapted to the dominant style of ornamentation of the period, but the presentation of the trophy is astonishingly constant, conforming to the mid-sixteenth century formula first published by António Salamanca (c.1500-62) and copied in 1551-53 by the young Enea Vico (1523-67) for Antonio Lafreri (1512-77) in Rome.’
The present sheet depicts a pair of trophy models, perhaps intended for carved wood boiserie panels, of a type that were especially popular in France in the 18th century. The first half of the century saw several artists create designs for elaborate trophies, including the painter Jean-Baptiste Huet, the sculptors François-Antoine Vassé and René Charpentier, the woodcarver François Roumier, the draughtsmen Jacques Dumont le Romain and Jean-Charles Delafosse, and the decorator and ornamental designer Alexis Peyrotte. Many of these designs, which could be adapted to suit a room type or the specific requirements of a patron, were engraved and widely disseminated. The engraver and print publisher Gabriel Huquier, for example, issued a number of series of ornamental prints of such trophy motifs, notably the Livre de nouveaux trophées inventez par J. Dumont le Romain peintre ordinaire du Roi, which appeared around 1736. Around the same time Huquier also issued two other sets of engravings of trophy motifs, based on designs by Charpentier.
The present sheet depicts a pair of trophy models, perhaps intended for carved wood boiserie panels, of a type that were especially popular in France in the 18th century. The first half of the century saw several artists create designs for elaborate trophies, including the painter Jean-Baptiste Huet, the sculptors François-Antoine Vassé and René Charpentier, the woodcarver François Roumier, the draughtsmen Jacques Dumont le Romain and Jean-Charles Delafosse, and the decorator and ornamental designer Alexis Peyrotte. Many of these designs, which could be adapted to suit a room type or the specific requirements of a patron, were engraved and widely disseminated. The engraver and print publisher Gabriel Huquier, for example, issued a number of series of ornamental prints of such trophy motifs, notably the Livre de nouveaux trophées inventez par J. Dumont le Romain peintre ordinaire du Roi, which appeared around 1736. Around the same time Huquier also issued two other sets of engravings of trophy motifs, based on designs by Charpentier.
Provenance
Private collection.
Exhibition
Stanford, Stanford University, Cantor Center for Visual Arts, Classic Taste: Drawings and Decorative Arts from the Collection of Horace Brock, March-May 2000.
