Author(s):
monnier, henry bonaventure (paris, 07–06–1799 - paris, 03–01–1877 — 3–6–1877), designer
delpech, françois seraphin (orléans, 1778 - 1825), printer-lithographer
other title: parisian sketches (series title)
date of production: 1827
type(s) of object(s): graphic arts, print
name(s): print
materials and techniques: vellum paper, watercolor, lithography
dimensions - artwork:
height: 25. 8cm
width: 35. 3cm
dimensions - picture:
height: 20. 6cm
width: 19. 4cm
dimensions - mounting:
height: 40cm
width: 30cm
description:
plate 4 from the series parisian sketches by henry monnier, 1827, in paris, from imp. Lithog. From delpech, quai voltaire n°3
marks, inscriptions, hallmarks:
inscription - above the line in the middle: "esquisses parisiennes" and on the right: "4" under the line on the left: "henry monnier" and on the right: "i. Lith. De delpech"
caption - under the image: the good parents / dad pulls the cord, mom shines the shoes / the little brother walks and miss declaims. Iconographic description:
in an attic room with simple decor, three people are standing. On the left, a young woman standing, her waist surrounded by a tight belt and holding a handkerchief in her hand, turns her head towards a man. This one, with white hair, dressed in a nightgown reaching to his knees and his head wearing a postmaster's cap, reads aloud from the book he holds in his hand. In the background, an elderly woman wearing a bonnet sits busy with some domestic work. For any decor we distinguish, a curtain, a dresser, the pipe of a stove, dishes, including a pitcher placed on the ground. On a hook on the wall hangs a cape and a scarf. 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: "sylvie rogron was sent to apprentice at a hundred crowns of pension on rue saint-denis, with merchants born in provins. Two years later, she was an au pair: if she earned nothing, her parents no longer paid anything for her accommodation and her food. This is what we call being an au pair, rue saint-denis. Two years later, during which her mother sent her a hundred francs for her maintenance, sylvie had a hundred crowns in salary. Thus, at the age of nineteen, miss sylvie rogron obtained her independence. At twenty, she was the second young lady of the julliard house, a silk merchant, at ver-chinois, rue saint-denis. Jérôme-denis rogron joined one of the strongest haberdashery merchants on rue saint-denis, the guépin house, in trois-quenouilles. If at twenty-one sylvie was first lady at a thousand francs salary, jérôme denis, better served by circumstances, found himself at eighteen years first clerk at twelve hundred francs, with the guépins, other provinois. [excerpt from pierette, by honoré de balzac]
themes / subjects / places represented:
social subject, customs, tableware, domestic interior, book
mode of acquisition: purchase
institution: maison de balzac
inventory number: bal 98-134. Date: 1827.
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