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| Jean de Saint-Igny La Noblesse françoise à l'église ca. 1629 etching British Museum |
The British Museum possesses two series of etchings published in the 1620s in Paris from designs by Jean de Saint-Igny (ca. 1595-ca. 1649) with plates cut by Abraham Bosse (1604-1676). The first series was called The French Nobility In Church. Formalized attitudes of prayer and meditation were deployed as virtuous pretexts for the exhibition of Saint-Igny's figures. Their exquisite stylishness informed viewers not only what to wear but how to wear it.
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| Jean de Saint-Igny La Noblesse françoise à l'église ca. 1629 etching British Museum |
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| Jean de Saint-Igny La Noblesse françoise à l'église ca. 1629 etching British Museum |
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| Jean de Saint-Igny La Noblesse françoise à l'église ca. 1629 etching British Museum |
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| Jean de Saint-Igny La Noblesse françoise à l'église ca. 1629 etching British Museum |
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| Jean de Saint-Igny La Noblesse françoise à l'église ca. 1629 etching British Museum |
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| Jean de Saint-Igny La Noblesse françoise à l'église ca. 1629 etching British Museum |
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| Jean de Saint-Igny La Noblesse françoise à l'église ca. 1629 etching British Museum |
Saint-Igny's and Brosse's second series at the British Museum – The Garden of French Nobility – continues in the same vein of propaganda for French fashion, but without the distracting trappings of religion.
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| Jean de Saint-Igny Le Jardin de la Noblesse françoise 1629 etching British Museum |
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| Jean de Saint-Igny Le Jardin de la Noblesse françoise 1629 etching British Museum |
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| Jean de Saint-Igny Le Jardin de la Noblesse françoise 1629 etching British Museum |
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| Jean de Saint-Igny Le Jardin de la Noblesse françoise 1629 etching British Museum |
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| Jean de Saint-Igny Le Jardin de la Noblesse françoise 1629 etching British Museum |
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| Jean de Saint-Igny Le Jardin de la Noblesse françoise 1629 etching British Museum |
I am grateful to the British Museum for making these images available.