Anonymous 18th century - Lot 50

Anonymous 18th century Vue prospective de la fête composée, et donnée par Mrs les Pensionnaires de l'Académie Royale à Rome en réjouissance du rétablissement de la Santé du Roi l'An 1744... Etching (under the pseudonym Hiden or Hidem). 367 x 268. Coll. Hennin (BnF) 8478. Very fine proof on watermarked laid paper (fleur-de-lys in a double circle). Normal median vertical drying fold. Tiny hole visible through transparency. Tiny freckles. Narrow margins. Very rare. This engraving is undoubtedly the work of several of the twelve residents of the Académie. It depicts the goddess of health, Hygie, and the god of medicine, Aesculapius, "rendering to the fervent prayers of France" the king cured of a serious illness. A rare example of the occasional engravings and festivities given by the boarders of the Académie Royale in Rome, in the Palazzo Mancini, this subject evokes the illness of King Louis XV, which was a terrible concern for the kingdom in the summer of 1744: from August 4 to 28, 1744, Louis XV was in Metz. He fell seriously ill on the night of August 7-8, probably due to sunstroke. His life was feared, and the entire court was alarmed. The king was forced to make an act of contrition by separating from his mistress, the Duchess of Châteauroux, who had accompanied him on his travels during the War of the Austrian Succession since June. However, the king's health rapidly improved, no doubt thanks to a remedy (a kind of elixir) administered by Alexandre de Montcharvaux, a surgeon major from Metz. On August 25, his recovery was celebrated at Saint-Arnoul, then at the Jesuit church. Numerous festivities were held in honor of the king's recovery - including at the Royal Academy in Rome. In a letter to the director of the Académie, J.-F. de Troy, on November 4, 1744, Superintendent Orry wrote: "I have received the letter you wrote me, Sir, on the 7th of last month, in which you inform me of the festivities held at the Académie on the occasion of the restoration of the King's health, and of the feast given by the boarders, of which you sent me a print. I cannot too much approve of their zeal and I am willing to share in some of the expenses they incurred on this occasion, in order to compensate them..." (A. de Montaiglon and J. Guiffrey, Correspondance des directeurs de l'Académie de France à Rome avec les surintendants des Bâtiments, tome X, letter 4508).