JEAN-FRANÇOIS GARNERAY (1755-1837) "Costumes... - Lot 23 - Osenat

Lot 23
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8000 - 10000 EUR
JEAN-FRANÇOIS GARNERAY (1755-1837) "Costumes... - Lot 23 - Osenat
JEAN-FRANÇOIS GARNERAY (1755-1837) "Costumes of the Official Authorities of the Directory Watercolor and gouache on pen and ink, with gold highlights Complete series of five original sheets presented to the Convention. 25 x 33.5 cm each A.B.E. (Some fading). About 1795 Exceptional complete and historical series of 5 watercolors, preparatory to the 26 plates (engraved by Alix in the black manner and colored) representing the outfits of the officials of the regime of the Directory, and published in the pamphlet "Collection des nouveaux costumes des autorités constituées, civiles et militaires : Costumes des législateurs et autres fonctionnaires publics / Etat-Major général", printed by Boiste, 21 rue Hautefeuille in Paris. A first work appeared in January 1796, and included 10 plates. The 16 other plates (with notably the military costumes) appeared in May 1796. A second edition, including all 26 plates, was published in 1798. On 5 Fructidor year IV, the Convention, while preparing the new regime, charged its committee of public instruction to make "a report on the particular costume to be given to each of the two legislative councils, and to all the public officials". On 28 fructidor, abbé Grégoire, in the name of this committee, presented his report and a draft decree to the Convention. Jean-François Barailon had also made a report on this subject a little earlier (13 Fructidor), with costumes very inspired by Greco-Roman antiquity. It is finally Gregoire, on 3 Brumaire year IV (24 October 1795), in the last moments of the Convention, in spite of a lively debate, who had his project adopted in its entirety, whose setting in images was entrusted to Garneray. Each of our drawings bears the mention in connection with the decree of 3 Brumaire of the year IV of the Republic. These original documents, which certainly do not bring anything new on the iconographic level and the knowledge of the costumes, are on the other hand of great historical and artistic importance and show how Garneray had integrated these models, which could seem to have been conceived separately, in small relatively elaborate compositions (especially for the last 16 plates, gathered in 3 drawings). Biography : Jean-François GARNERAY, from a family originally from Lorraine, entered David's studio in 1782. Until the Revolution, he specialized as a miniaturist, while producing some paintings. For a time he was an official draughtsman at the Royal Academy of Music, then became famous during the Revolution for his portraits of the celebrities of the time, often in medallions, which were widely distributed thanks to the engravings of Pierre-Marie Alix. He began to exhibit at the Salon in 1791, without interruption until 1835. Garneray worked on several occasions for the Convention, which commissioned him to paint Charlotte Corday's portrait, which was taken during her trial; like many artists of the time, he was also a Freemason (fervently attending the Amitié lodge of the Grand Orient de France), as was Abbé Grégoire, which may explain the commission of our costume plates at the end of 1795.
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