Author(s):
monnier, henry bonaventure (paris, 07–06–1799 - paris, 03–01–1877 — 3–6–1877), designer
delpech, françois seraphin (orléans, 1778 - 1825), designer-lithographer
other title: yesterday & today (series title)
dating in century: 19th century
type(s) of object(s): graphic arts, print
name(s): print
materials and techniques: lithography, laid paper, watercolor
dimensions - artwork:
height: 23cm
width: 28. 7cm
dimensions - picture:
height: 15. 5cm
width: 14. 7cm
dimensions - mounting:
height: 40cm
width: 30cm
description:
colored print
marks, inscriptions, hallmarks:
wet stamp - t. H. : monogram a m and 2 r next to each other?
title of the work - above the image: jadis
legend - under the image: a boudoir
inscription concerning the author - under the image on the left: henry monnier
registration concerning the test - under the image on the right: i. Lith de delpech
iconographic description:
in a richly decorated and furnished room, two people are talking. A noble lady wearing a powdered wig sits on a bench. She listens attentively to an abbot sitting opposite her in an armchair. This boudoir is furnished with a heavy hanging, a console, a small bronze, a wall lamp, a clock, a table with the remains of a meal. Actor, playwright and designer, henry monnier helped illustrate la comédie humaine. His engravings of administrative morals, and especially his play scenes from bureaucratic life, clearly inspired balzac for his novel la femme supérieure, renamed les employés. The same references to the customs of their time often inspired the two artists in parallel on numerous subjects as we can see in the following extract: "by moving her home to the first floor, madame moreau was able to transform the old bedroom into a boudoir. The living room and this boudoir, richly furnished with beautiful things sorted from the old furniture of the castle, would certainly not have defaced the hotel of a fashionable woman. Hanging in blue and white damask, once the fabric of a large bed of honor, this living room, whose furniture in old gilded wood was upholstered in the same fabric, offered very ample curtains and doors, lined with white taffeta, paintings from old destroyed trumeaux, planters, some pretty modern furniture, and beautiful lamps, in addition to an old chandelier with cut crystals, gave this room a grandiose appearance. [excerpt from a beginning in life, by honoré de balzac]
themes / subjects / places represented:
subject of society, customs, domestic interior, wall hanging, boudoir, sofa
institution: maison de balzac
inventory number: bal91. 107. Unknown date
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