Featured An engraving curiosity, c1760 book illustration

If anyone has any idea what the subject is, I'm open to suggestions.


It looks to me like a hero rescuing a damsel in distress? His gear - shield, helmet, lance - are off to the side; her clothes seem tattered? Maybe he has just slayed a dragon?


The engraving is credited to Claude Olivier Gallimard (1718/19-1774) after a design by Michel-Françoise Dandré-Bardon (1700-1785). Both are known artists of the period, but they were hardly household names. A project like this would have been a big deal in terms of their careers.

The thing is: the print is pre-titles. You can see at the bottom where space has been created for a title and dedication, but those have not yet been added. Although the authorship of a print is usually limited to a single name, it was common for multiple hands to take part in the engraving. The credited engraver was responsible for the principle image, but others would have been called on for things like borders and titles. Here the border is obviously present, as well as a cartouche for a coat of arms, but the space is blank.


There is an interesting inscription along the bottom edge of the sheet:
"fait pour Le Prospecteur D’un grand ouvrage qui n’a pas eu lieu"


This translates online as "made for the prospector of a large work that never took place". Assuming the person who wrote it knew what they were talking about, I take it to mean the print was produced for a prospectus. Someone had this project in mind, and they were looking for an investor to finance it. (The inscription suggests they didn't find one.) This print was produced to sell the idea, and it is pre-title because it was not yet known to whom it would be dedicated. The specialist who would have done the text had not yet been called upon. But someone took a hit on the work done to that point.

It is a large print, the sheet measures 19-1/2” x 12-1/2”, and the image is about 13” x 8-1/2”. Illustrated books of that size were produced at that time, but it would have been a very expensive undertaking. I think of them as the coffee table books of their day.

 

VERY NICE!!! To me her clothing looks as nice as his, a bit 'disheveled' rather than tattered, and somewhat well to do!! MOST intriguing for sure!!! Where is @Debora when there's a good question!!!

 

I see the knightly accoutrements but think he is dressed for hunting, an activity that was often used as the setting for encounters between mortals & goddesses or separated lovers. I can't tell if she is welcoming him or warning him to back off. I expect she is a princess who resides in the castle in the background.

 

Somewhat ambiguous to the modern eye. I'd trust @Bronwen who knows her way about mythology. Don't see the castle though. Isn't that a tree?

Debora

 

That back shape is rather amorphous, but I'm not seeing a castle.


(The days must be long when I can take a daylight snap at 6:00PM)

 

Does rather look like a cypress, or some such, doesn't it. It's just such a standard trope to put a castle or other building where it can be seen past the trees. This is Angelica & Medoro from Orlando Furioso:



This was the first example I could think of, but I see it often in compositions that show some landscape.

 

I can easily see trees, but am puzzled then by the way they are featured. My first thought was actually something like the Cathedral of Cologne, seen from a side angle.

 

But also frequently misreads photos.

 

Practically perfect then, like Mary Poppins.

Debora

 

'IF' she's really warning him to back off, I wouldn't think she would have her breasts handily exposed, JMHO!! She almost DOES look like she's saying, in today's terms "Whoa there, boy..." with her face and hands......maybe it's just a lovers spat..............!

 

Michel-Françoise Dandré-Bardon was famous for a book about ancient costumes. Maybe that is lead.

https://www.google.nl/books/edition...peuples_par_M_Dandr/oQZaAeLpwfUC?hl=en&gbpv=0

 

It might suggest that Dandré-Bardon was the instigator of the book project. Looks like a guy who might have been of the publish-or-perish mind set. Apparently based at that time in Marseilles.

A biography might include mention of other projects, but I don't think such exists.

Obviously he did have some standing as a professional: