Help with old French prints? please :)

Are these old prints from 1792, or reproductions? What are they supposed to be depicting?, some type of certificate or something?, or what? I ask because I see some of the wording in the text is bold and some aren't. Any idea on who made these? Any other thoughts are so very appreciated, because I am clueless here. Do I need to take them out of the frames to determine the type of print?
Thanks for your time. The open area of the frames measure approx. 15" x 9.5".
I'll put the 2nd one in the next post.

 

Here is the other one.

 

They commemorate two of the victims of the French revolution.
The first one is Louis XVI, the king, a description of him and his death sentence, the second one is the wife of the secretary of the interior/home secretary, a description of her ('the most noble among the women'), and her death sentence.

 

Victims of the revolution?

The first is King Louis XVI and the event is the storming of the Tuileries Palace, which really marked the end of the monarchy.

The second shows Marie Jeanne Phelippon, wife of Louis' Minister of the Interior, appearing before a Revolutionary Tribunal. (Brumaire was a month in the revolutionary calendar.)

These are probably original, but later than 1792.

Here's an eBay listing that says 19th C, but isn't more specific.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Marie-Jeann...AU-FORTE-DUPLESSI-BERTAUX-19eme-/262386818182

Engraved by Jean Duplessi-Bertaux, who died in 1819.

Both are marked l'an 7 de la Republique, which started September 22, 1798 - so engraved in 1798-99.

 

I am no royalist, but a revolution always has victims on both sides, whatever their crimes may or may not have been.

 

Unfortunately most of the text is too small for me to read, but I see no reason no doubt the date. An interesting feature is the use in part of French revolutionary dating, 19th Brumiare of the year 2.
Possibly unhappily, renaming all the months and restarting the calendar never really caught on, since the names discarded all those old Roman gods, and numbers

They are memorials to the persons depicted, the first is obvious but Marie, wife of Roland, is a bit obscure. Anyway, she went to the guillotine in the reign of terror.

https://www.google.com/search?q=tra...-8&client=firefox-b#q=marie+jeanne+phelipon&*

 

Thank you all soooo much Anyjewelry, Moreotherstuff & Af, so much great information, and I truly appreciate the help.

 

This notation from an 1847 book catalog might refer to a portfolio of prints of which these were part:



(don't know that for sure)

It's also possible that Duplessi-Bertaux was responsible only for the vignettes, not for the portraits. Again, I don't know.

 

I think you could be right, the description and the maker are the same.

 

The portraits are mezzotints by Charles François Gabriel Levachez (1760-1820)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Louis_XVI_&_Prise_du_château_des_Tuileries_-_Levachez_1798-1817.jpg

http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b6950471p#

Note that in the description, it says the vignette is after Duplessi-Bertraux (1747-1819). Not quite sure how to take that in this context. I suspect it means the-picture-that-comes-after-the-portrait.

These are sourced from the Biblioteque nationale de France

If you search Charles Levachez you will find other portraits from the same series. I think the book catalog entry referenced earlier does apply to these.

 

doesn't 'after', mean 'in the style of'..

 

In the world of art, after means a copy of. In the style of would be described variously as 'school of XXXXX' or 'follower of', if of the same period as the original.

Engraving was so often used to provide a popular edition of famous paintings that just about everything was 'after' some original.

 

Which begs the question....how many "originals" did they print????????? There's this one shown, and ebay has 2 listed..........??

 

I am aware of what “after” usually means in artwork, but I don’t think that is the case here. In this instance I think it is merely an imprecise translation from the French of a label on a form.

Both vignettes are labelled, right and left:



That would not be the case if these were someone else copies.

Further, the notes from the second BnF link read :
Vue 1 : Marie-Jeanne-Phélippon femme de Roland ministre de l'interieur en 1792: [estampe] / Levachez sculp.. M.J. Phelippon, femme Roland plaidant sa cause devant le tribunal revolutionnaire, le 19 brumaire, an 2.e / Duplessi-Bertaux inv. & del. l'an 7.e de la Rép.e ; Duplessi-Bertaux aqua forti

In Duplessi-Bertaux's case, a restatement of what is on the print with nothing to indicate any other hand.

I don’t see any signature on either portrait, nor does it say anywhere, except in that book record, that the portraits are mezzotints. They have the softness of mezzotints to my eye, but close-ups may help on that score, and I have no reason to doubt the expertise of whoever wrote that book catalog entry. Similarly, I have no reason to doubt the BnF statement of authorship.

If these were my prints, I would be confident in saying the portraits are by Levachez, and the vignettes by Duplessi-Bertaux.

 

Wow, thanks so very much for your hard work moreotherstuff, any jewelry, Af, Aquitaine and Komokwa. So much information to absorb! Thank you again, I have a hard time understanding all this, so need to re-read and try to figure it all out. Y'all are the best.

 

tyeldom3..sure great guys here wih eagle eyed observation in such art and painting related matters..
TTA