Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Works on Paper by Gabriel de Saint-Aubin (1724-1780)

Gabriel de Saint-Aubin
Portrait of Germain-Augustin and Rose de Saint-Aubin, drawn by their uncle
1766
drawing
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

"During the Rococo period, French artists frequently depicted children, sometimes at play and spontaneous in their gestures and expressions, but also engaged in study, their education the foundation for the future of society.  In 1766, Saint-Aubin, a draftsman and chronicler of Parisian cultural life, drew a portrait of his niece and nephew in profile.  Based on preparatory studies made after life, this finished drawing presents the children as well educated and well behaved, with the restraint and self-confidence of adults.  Rose, seated at right, holds a hurdy-gurdy, a musical instrument popular in the eighteenth century." 

Gabriel de Saint-Aubin
L'Escalier
1778-79
drawing
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

"Admired for his impromptu sketches of daily life in Paris, Saint-Aubin produced one of the liveliest and most insightful records of ancien-régime France.  This vignette captures an elegant young woman, accompanied by a small boy and a dog, as she lifts the hem of her skirt and prepares to ascend a curving stone stair to a sunlit park." 

Gabriel de Saint-Aubin
Four Vases
1754
etching
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Gabriel de Saint-Aubin
Figures in the Portico of Sainte Geneviève le Panthéon, Paris
1776-79
drawing
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Gabriel de Saint-Aubin
Les fêtes vénitiennes
after 1759
watercolor and gouache
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Gabriel de Saint-Aubin
Allegory of Louis XV as patron of the arts
with paintings and sculpture from the Salon of 1769
ca. 1769
oil paint over chalk on paper
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

"Ironically, it was Gabriel de Saint-Aubin, whose aspirations to become a member of the Académie Royale were never realized, who provided posterity with visual records of the biennial Salons held in the Palais du Louvre to showcase new work by its members.  His drawings of the Salons ranged from fully realized views of the exhibitions with visitors to thumbnail sketches of individual works made in the margins of the accompanying brochures.  This work is a hybrid, in which sketches of paintings and sculptures on view in the Salon of 1769 were initially drawn in chalk in bands across the sheet, then later worked up in oil paint, and finally embellished with allegorical figures of the arts descending upon clouds to honor King Louis XV as a great patron, presenting his portrait to the viewer."

Gabriel de Saint-Aubin
Vignette pour une adresse
1752
etching
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Gabriel de Saint-Aubin
A conference of lawyers
1776
etching
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Gabriel de Saint-Aubin
Allegorie sur la convalescence du Dauphin
1752
etching
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Gabriel de Saint-Aubin
Allegory on the marriage of the Dauphin and Marie-Antoinette
1770
drawing
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

attributed to Gabriel de Saint-Aubin
Design for a monument
before 1780
drawing
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Gabriel de Saint-Aubin
La colère de Neptune - Fontaine
1767
etching
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Gabriel de Saint-Aubin
Le scélérat Damiens
(Robert-François Damiens, attempted assassin of Louis XV)
1757
etching
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Gabriel de Saint-Aubin
Coronation Regalia carried in procession at Saint-Denis
1775
drawing
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

– quoted texts from curator's notes at the Metropolitan Museum