1803 – Musée Français – England
Géricault Life
Pierre Laurent’s engraving of “The Ruins of the Colosseum” Musée Français; Volume 3, 1806. (Private Collection)
In March, 1802, Théodore Géricault’s relations Louis Robillard de Péronville and Pierre Laurent formed an enterprise to reproduce, in engravings, the paintings, sculptures and objets d’art in the Musée Central des Arts in the Louvre. Robillard de Péronville and Laurent began publishing the first livraisons, or folios, each consisting of four engravings with commentary in the spring of 1803. The Musée français was designed to appeal to the most affluent and discriminating international amateurs, or collectors, many of whom would visit Paris following the Peace of Amiens in 1802. Read one of the first English reviews of Robillard de Péronville and Laurent’s first numbers.
The Monthly Review or Literary Journal, Enlarged from May to August inclusive volume XLI , London: Appendix to the Forty-First Volume Monthly Review Enlarged, London: 1803, pp. 523-524.
“…Art. XIII. Le Musée Francais, &c.; i.e. The French Museum – containing a complete Exhibition of the Pictures, Statues, and Bas-reliefs, which compose the National Collection; with an Explanation of the different Subjects, and Discourses on Painting, Sculpture, and Engravings by S.C. Croze-Magnan. Published by Robillard-Peronville and Laurent. Imperial Folio. Paris. 1803. Imported by De Boffe, London. Price 2l. 12s. 6d. [2 pounds, 12 shillings, 6 pence] each Number: or Proof Impressions, 5l.
“It has been the avowed wish of the French Government to make Paris the great school of the Arts; and for this purpose the conquered countries have been despoiled of their most valuable pictures, statues, &c. which, together with those in France that escaped the destructive rage of the revolution, now make one vast National Collection, chiefly arranged and exhibited in the Museum of the Louvre. Travellers have expressed the highest admirations of the treasures which this collection displays; and while men of taste will be desirous of obtaining copies of its invaluable originals, artists will be induced by the pleasure, as well as the profit attending such an undertaking, to gratify their wishes. – The very superb work, of which the commencement is now before us, is planned on so magnificent a scale as to suit only the pockets of the opulent. The Editors propose to make their collection of copper-plates as complete of its kind as the Museum itself: they inform us that, at the time of publishing their prospectus, they had obtained two hundred designs executed by the best artists; and that a hundred plates were then either finished or in the hands of the engravers. It is proposed to publish the work in numbers; each of which will contain four engravings, three of pictures, and the fourth representing a statue or a bas-relief. The letter-press is beautiful, on vellum paper of the first quality, and of the largest size, each page measuring more than 24 inches by 18, English. Every copper-plate, whether of a picture or a statue, is accompanied by an explanation of the subject represented; to which are occasionally added notes containing historical accounts of the picture and the painting, with critical reflections on the rules of the art and the style of the master. The sculptures, in like manner, will be elucidated by suitable references to mythology and ancient history. This literary department is undertaken by M. Croze-Magnan, well-known by many works on the fine arts, and particularly on Painting. With each number, also is given a portion of some General Discourse, which is intended, when complete, to form an Introduction to each Volume. – If the work be prosecuted and concluded with the same taste which is displayed at its commencement, it will reflect great honour on the editors and on the artists employed under them; and it cannot fail to furnish an entertainment of a very superior kind.
The three Numbers now on our table contain (No.1.) La Belle Jardiniere, from a picture by Raphael; Les Charlatans by Karel du Jardin; – Hunting the Deer by Wouvermans; and (statue) the Bacchus of Richelieu. (No. 2.) Moses treading under foot the crown of Pharoah by Poussin; – A Soldier offering money to a young woman by Terburg; – Hunting the Heron by Teniers; – (statue) Psyche and Eros. (No. 3.) The Annunciation by Solimene; – The Alchymist by Teniers; – The Passage of the Rhine by Vander Meulen; – and (statue) Polyhymnia.
These plates are charmingly executed, and must delight the man of taste…Though we cannot communicate the pleasure which these engravings has afforded us, we shall lay before them some specimens of the accompanying descriptions; whence they may form a judgment of the manner in which this part of the art is executed, as well as present to their imaginations the subjects which they are designed to elucidate. The following is the account given of the picture called La Belle Jardiniere, or the beautiful female gardener…”