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 - image:
height: 19. 3cm
width: 19cm
dimensions - mounting:
height: 40cm
width: 30cm
description:
plate 9 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: "9" under the line on the left: "henri monnier" and on the right: "imp. Lith. De delpech"
legend - under the image: visits / we are disturbing you perhaps you were at the table
iconographic description:
a crowd crowds into a bourgeois living room decorated with gilded frames and a modern chandelier. On the right of the image, a door is wide open, a family has just entered the room. The middle-aged parents greet their guests, the mother holds a young child by the hand. On the left of the image, a young woman and two elegant gentlemen rose from the table as the guests arrived. 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: "thus, the phellions formed a phalanx composed of seven people, all quite faithful; the colleville family was not less numerous, so that, on certain sundays, there were thirty people in the thuillier salon. Thuillier renewed his acquaintance with the saillards, the baudoyers, the falleix, considerable people from the thuillier district. The place royale, and who were often invited to dinner, madame colleville was, as a woman, the most distinguished person in this world, like minard fils, professor phellion, were the superior men; because all the others, without ideas, without education, coming from the lower ranks, offered the types and ridicule of the petty bourgeoisie. [excerpt from les petits bourgeois, by honoré de balzac]
themes / subjects / places represented:
subject of society, customs, chandelier, child, domestic interior
mode of acquisition: purchase
institution: maison de balzac
inventory number: bal 98-139. Date: 1827.
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