Description
A.A. Lejeune (active 18th century), attributed – Trompe l’oeil with assignats and documents of the French Revolution.
Pen, brown ink and watercolour on paper laid on panel, in a wooden frame.
The genre of the trompe l’oeil featuring scattered papers and documents has a long tradition in European painting, but acquires particular resonance when the subject consists of French Republic assignats: the paper currency issued between 1789 and 1796, backed by property confiscated from the clergy and aristocracy, became both emblem and instrument of the Revolution before collapsing in catastrophic devaluation. The panel attributed to Lejeune renders with graphic precision the apparent disorder of these documents, overlapping and layered with skilful variation of denominations — from a few sols to ten thousand francs. The pen and watercolour technique, executed on paper subsequently mounted on a rigid support, carefully simulates the typographic and chromatic differences among the various assignat types, reflecting the taste for documentary illusionism widespread in late eighteenth-century visual culture. A work of considerable historical and collecting interest.
Condition report: Good overall state of conservation of the paper support. Some localised abrasions and yellowing consistent with natural ageing are present.
