PJ Stock 2009 - Patrick Jefferson

(1731-1788)
Item
GILLES PAUL CAUVET
Date
Paris 1777; within an Empire water-gilt frame.
A plate from
Recueil D'Ornemens ...
Dimensions
Height 18” (46cm)
Description
Recueil D'Ornemens A L'Usage Des Jeunes Artistes Qui Se Destinent A La
Décoration Des Bâtimens, comprising 106 engraved or etched plates on 74
leaves, was dedicated to Louis Stanislas Xavier François de Bourbon
(1755-1824), comte de Provence and the future Louis XVIII King of France, a
notable scholar. (Berlin Kat. 483; Cohen/de Ricci 208.) Cauvet, an acclaimed
sculptor and architect, was named 'sculpteur de Monsieur' for his works of
architectural ornament. He is considered to have started the reaction against 'le
genre rocaille' and his friezes, arabesques ornaments, vases, and overdoors mark
the movement from the 'style Louis XV au style dit de l'Empire' (Hoefer:
Biographie Generale).
Width 30” (76cm)
Sight 8” x 19 3/4”
The image of the eagle wrestling a serpent is ancient, however the scrolling
foliage almost certainly suggests this version was engraved after a Roman marble,
predating Etchings of Ancient Ornamental Architecture, etc., 1799, and Etchings
Representing Fragments of Grecian and Roman Ornaments, 1806, by Charles
Heathcote Tatham . The subject endured and a particularly vivacious Byzantine
example, dating from the V-VI century, forms part of the mosaic floor of the
Grand Imperial Palace, Constantinople. (For a further discussion of the
symbolism and iconography of this subject, see Rudolf Wittkower, ‘Eagle &
Serpent. A Study in the Migration of Symbols.’, Journal of the Warburg Institute,
vol. 2, No. 4 (Apr., 1939), pp. 293-325.)
GILLES PAUL CAUVET
(1731-1788)
Fig. 1
Fig.2
Fig.3