Jean-Jacques de Boissieu (1736-1810) - Lot 79

Jean-Jacques de Boissieu (1736-1810) Jean-Jacques de Boissieu, portrait of the author. 1796. Etching, drypoint and roulette. Sight: 320 x375mm. Boissieu-Perez 102; Regency to Empire 112. Fine proof on laid paper, of the 4th state (of 8), before replacement of the portrait of the artist's wife by a landscape, trimmed at the plate cut then pasted on chine pastedown on vellum. Light foxing. A few tiny surface scratches (in the marble head, near the portrait of the wife). "The various states of Portrait de l'Auteur document an intriguing artistic change rather than additions for mere refinement. The first state is pure etching [...] In the second and third states, the artist gradually added drypoint and roulette shading. In his self-portrait, de Boissieu holds a copperplate on which a portrait of his wife is drawn. While he was working on this print, his wife died, and in the fifth state, he substituted a landscape with a cow for her portrait. [...] In addition to the intimate glimpse of his wife, de Boissieu portrays himself with objects relating to his profession and education, including a pen, a book, a bust from a figure in the Laocoön, and such engraving tools as an etching needle and a scraper. This image is deservedly regarded as one of the artist's finest prints..." (J. McKean Fisher, in V. I. Carlson and J. W. Ittmann eds, Regency to Empire, French Printmaking 1715-1814, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1984, p.310).