Beschreibung:

Circle of Gerard van Spaendonck (1746-1822) An album of original watercolour and bodycolour flower drawings on silk, [France: c. 1790]. 2° (310 x 220mm). 26 FINE ORIGINAL WATERCOLOUR AND BODYCOLOUR DRAWINGS ON IVORY-COLOURED SILK, some heightened in white, the majority with integral manuscript titles, each drawing between guard leaves of blank paper. Early 19th-century light brown calf gilt by Jean-Claude Bozerian, covers with border composed from a neo-classical roll and a roll of stylised flowers and foliage, the flat spine divided into six compartments by bands composed from four fillets and three roll-tools, green morocco label in the second compartment, later matching overlay to label lettered in gilt 'P.-J. Redouté', the other compartments with matching decoration in gilt of a single large rose spray tool, lettered in gilt at foot of sixth compartment 'rel. p. Bozerian', gilt turn-ins, marbled endpapers, gilt edges, 20th-century black straight-grained morocco solander box, tooled in gilt and inlaid in imitation of Bozerian, 'covers' with wide decorative border of four gilt fillets enclosing an onlaid strip of red morocco tooled in gilt with fillet edges and stylised flower and foliage tool, the strip interrupted at the centre of each length by a large onlaid red morocco lozenge, outlined in gilt with a centrally-placed gilt flower-spray, 'spine' in six compartments with double-raised bands, the red-morocco onlaid strip between each pair of bands tooled in gilt with roll-tool, the second compartment with red morocco lettering-piece, the others with repeat pattern of a number of small tools centred around an onlaid red morocco roundel, the box lined in dark olive suede leather. Provenance : Jules Émile Planchon (1823-1888, bookplate). A FINE AND VERY RARE COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL BOTANICAL WATERCOLOURS ON SILK, INCLUDING 13 OF TULIPS, BOUND INTO AN ALBUM BY BOZERIAN, ONE OF THE GREAT BINDERS OF THE PERIOD, AND WITH A DISTINGUISHED PROVENANCE.S ALTHOUGH THE ARTIST OF THIS ALBUM HAS NOT BEEN IDENTIFIED, HE (OR VERY POSSIBLY SHE) IS ALMOST CERTAIN TO BE FOUND AMONG THE PUPILS OF THE GREAT BOTANICAL ARTIST, GERARD VAN SPAENDONCK BORN IN THE NETHERLANDS IN 1746, VAN SPAENDONCK MOVED TO PARIS IN 1774 AND WAS APPOINTED 'PEINTRE DU ROI'. HIS FIRST EXHIBITION AT THE SALON OF 1777 BROUGHT HIM FURTHER ACCOLADES AND ATTENTION FROM THE HIGHEST PATRONS, AND IN 1780 HE SUCCEEDED MADELEINE BASSEPORTE AS PROFESSEUR DE PEINTURE DE FLEURS AT THE JARDIN DES PLANTES. HIS MOST IMPORTANT BODY OF WORK WAS THE DRAWINGS EXECUTED FOR THE SERIES OF VéLINS , BUT PERHAPS HIS MOST LASTING INFLUENCE WAS AS A TEACHER. HE ATTRACTED THE MOST GIFTED ARTISTS AS HIS STUDENTS, BOTH PROFESSIONAL AND AMATEUR, AND THE ARTIST OF THE PRESENT ALBUM EASILY TAKES HIS PLACE AMONG THEM. TWO OF VAN SPAENDONCK'S BEST KNOWN PUPILS ARE PIERRE-JOSEPH REDOUTé (1759-1840) AND JAN FRANS VAN DAEL (1764-1840), BUT HE WAS INSTRUMENTAL IN GIVING DIRECTION TO THE CAREERS OF A NUMBER OF OTHER IMPORTANT FLOWER PAINTERS NOT LEAST OF WHOM WAS HIS YOUNGER BROTHER CORNELIS VAN SPAENDONCK (1756-1840). CORNELIS, LIKE HIS BROTHER, PAINTED OILS, GOUACHE AND WATERCOLOUR AS WELL AS PROVIDING DESIGNS FOR THE SèVRES PORCELAIN FACTORY. OTHER NOTABLE PUPILS (THE MAJORITY OF WHOM WERE WOMEN) INCLUDE THéRèSE-ANTOINETTE BAUDRY DE BALZAC (1774-1831); JAKOB BER (1786-1863, BORN MOïSE JACOBBER PAINTED FLOWERS AND FRUIT ON PORCELAIN, OILS AND WATERCOLOUR); PANCRACE BESSA (1772-1846); ÉMILE-THéOPHILE BLANCHARD (B. 1795, A BOTANICAL DESIGNER AND FLOWER PAINTER); AUGUSTE PIQUET DE BRIENNE (B. 1789); MéLANIE DE COMOLéRA ANTOINE CHAZAL (1793-1854); MARQUISE DE GROLLIER (1742-1828, WHOSE PAINTINGS INCLUDE EXAMPLES EXECUTED IN OILS ON MARBLE); ANNE-ERNESTINE PANCKOUCKE (1784-1860); MADAME PEIGNE (NéE JOUANON, WHO WORKED AS A DESIGNER AT THE OBERKAMPF TEXTILE FACTORY FROM ABOUT 1790-1815); AND ADèLE RICHé (1791-1878). THE LUXURY WHICH TYPIFIES THE PRESENT ALBUM POINTS TO AN ARTIST OF THE HIGHEST SOCIETY. HIS