Description
French painter (19th century) – Trompe l’oeil with collector’s prints: knight, classical figures and exotic animals.
Pen, brown ink, tempera and watercolour on paper, in gilt wood frame.
The composition simulates a group of prints and watercoloured drawings arranged as if scattered on a wooden surface, following the trompe l’oeil tradition of antiquarian subjects widespread in France between the late 18th and early 19th century. The individual “cards” depict subjects of encyclopaedic and collectible character: a knight in armour on a rearing horse, a bird perched on flowering branches against a Pompeian red ground, a classical female figure after a Greek vase engraving, a vestal virgin at an altar, monkeys in a landscape, a quartered heraldic shield, and a bovine in open country. The variety of subjects and simulated techniques — from watercolour to black-and-white print, from pen drawing to coloured tempera — reveals an artist well acquainted with antiquarian collections and reproductive printmaking of the period.
Condition report: Good state of conservation of the paper support. Some localised abrasions and yellowing are present.
