Edme Bouchardon after Annibale Carracci Head of Christ (detail of an altarpiece) ca. 1724-25 drawing Musée du Louvre |
Edme Bouchardon after Annibale Carracci Atlante and Ignudo (from Galleria Farnese frescoes, Rome) ca. 1723-32 drawing Musée du Louvre |
Nicolas-Bernard Lépicié after Annibale Carracci Ignudo (from Galleria Farnese fresco, Rome) before 1784 drawing Musée du Louvre |
Michel Corneille the Younger after Annibale Carracci Figure clinging to Hanged Man ca. 1660 drawing Musée du Louvre |
Michel Corneille the Younger after Annibale Carracci Woman in a Landscape ca. 1660 drawing Musée du Louvre |
Edme Bouchardon after Raphael Head of Triton (from Villa Farnesina fresco, Rome) ca. 1727-30 drawing Musée du Louvre |
Edme Bouchardon after Raphael Head of Bacchus (from Villa Farnesina fresco, Rome) ca. 1727-30 drawing Musée du Louvre |
Edme Bouchardon after Raphael Aeneas fleeing Troy (from a fresco at the Vatican) ca. 1724-26 drawing Musée du Louvre |
Pierre Mignard after Raphael Figure of Satan (from painting, St Michael vanquishing Satan) before 1695 drawing Musée du Louvre |
Pierre Mignard after Raphael Figure of St Michael Archangel (from painting, St Michael vanquishing Satan) before 1695 drawing Musée du Louvre |
Louis-Jean-Jacques Durameau after Flaminio Vacca Marble Lion in the Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence ca. 1760 drawing Musée du Louvre |
Louis-Jean-Jacques Durameau after Guido Reni Aurora in her Chariot (after engraving after ceiling fresco in Rome) ca. 1765-69 drawing Musée du Louvre |
Charles-Joseph Natoire after Giovanni Antonio Mari Marble Angel supporting Picture Frame (from Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome) ca. 1723-28 drawing Musée du Louvre |
Charles-Joseph Natoire after Giovanni Antonio Mari Marble Angel supporting Picture Frame (from Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome) ca. 1723-28 drawing Musée du Louvre |
Charles-Joseph Natoire after Pelegrino Tibaldi Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne before 1777 drawing (copy commissioned by Pierre-Jean Mariette) Musée du Louvre |
The still-famous Parisian collector Pierre-Jean Mariette (1694-1774) directly commissioned Charles-Joseph Natoire (1700-1777) to draw the copy of Pelegrino Tibaldi's Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne reproduced here – in the blue "Mariette mount" – uniform with those applied to the majority of the 9,000 drawings in Mariette's collection. The formality of the mount was a deliberate device in this collector's successful campaign to elevate the status of the old master drawings (mainly Italian) he had gone to such trouble to understand and such expense to acquire. Contemporary gossip suggested that Mariette intended his collection for the French state, and that in fact Louis XVI had, after Mariette's death, followed through and offered a certain sum to the heirs for this purpose. The King's offer was, however, refused. Instead, the heirs concluded they could make a better profit by dispersing Mariette's life project piece by piece in a series of public auctions. During the subsequent 250 years, many of these drawings (in their distinctive blue mounts) have by various routes made their way into the vaults of the Louvre, but none by the path that Mariette intended.