The scene takes place inside a decorated and wallpapered room, specially built and fitted out for the occasion near the water tower. The king is seated on the left in an armchair, on a platform in front of which are kneeling the provost of merchants (christophe sanguin) and the other city councilors of paris (the aldermen étienne heurlot, nicolas de laistre, augustin le roulx and léonard renard, the prosecutor gabriel payen, the clerk guillaume clément and the receiver charles le bert). If we can distinguish christophe sanguin by his attitude, the other characters are not identifiable, because we do not know of them from other engraved portraits. The king and his brother gaston, who poses standing near him, also benefit from real portraits, even if the king is not flattered. As for the other standing gentlemen, they seem to be figures rather than portraits. Beyond the window of the room, we see the cannon firing "to give the signal of rejoicing to the city", while the troops parade. The mention a bosse jn. Suggests that bosse only made the drawing of this composition. It seems almost certain, however, that he etched the entire plate with etching, while the portraits of the aediles were engraved, partly with etching and partly with a burin, either by tavernier and/or firens, as the legend suggests, or by one of their collaborators. The same can be said for the other figures in the work, fifteen in number: bosse probably provided the drawings, but also the etching before it was taken up by one or more engravers. The agreement made on april 28, 1629 between pierre rocolet, bookseller and ordinary printer of the paris town house, pierre firens, merchant engraver in intaglio in paris and melchior tavernier, engraver and intaglio printer to the king in paris, has been preserved to us. It is decided that rocolet will print the text of the book, while firens and tavernier will engrave and print "the figures in intaglio in the number of sixteen plates which represent the paintings, emblems and mottoes which were represented at the said reception". Everyone contributes to the costs for a third. Seven hundred copies are planned, including two hundred for the provost of merchants and the city aldermen, the other five hundred being intended for sale for the benefit of the three merchants (at the rate of 3 pounds 15 sols per blank copy). Date: 1629. Dimensions: sheet: 11 1/4 x 9 1/16 in. (28.6 x 23 cm). Medium: etching with engraving. Collection: Metropolitan Museum of Art. Abraham Bosse, Louis XIII Listens to the Provost of the Merchants of Paris on December 23, 1628
Loading...
