|
|
After Vincenzo Coronelli
(1650-1718)
Time-belt
of the Celestial Globe
© Reunion
des Musees Nationaux, Paris
After Jean Auguste Dominique
Ingres (1780-1867)
The Valpin on Bather (1808)
© Reunion
des Musees Nationaux, Paris
After Leonard de Vinci (1452-1518)
La Joconde
© Reunion
des Musees Nationaux, Paris
|
Engraving
the World: The Chalcography of the Louvre Museum
15 June to 6 August 2006
As part of Le French May,
the Consulate General of France in Hong Kong and
Macau, The Louvre Museum, the Reunion des Musees
Nationaux and the University Museum and Art Gallery
of The University of Hong Kong are pleased to
present an exhibition of prints from the chalcography
collection of the Louvre Museum. Chalcography
refers to the technique of engraving on copper
endorsed in the seventeenth century under the
patronage of the Sun King, Louis XIV (r.1668-1715),
as well as to the repository in which the copper
plates are collected.
This exhibition presents
for the first time in Hong Kong a selection of
over one hundred etchings taken from the historically
important chalcography collection of the Louvre
Museum. While the Louvre's collections enjoy a
formidable reputation around the world, the engraved
copper plates of its chalcography collection remain
little known by the public. The beginnings of
the collection date back to the 1660s under Louis
XIV when he established a royal workshop for the
production of etchings and the collection known
as the Cabinet du Roi (King's Cabinet) in 1663.
The Cabinet du Roi holds a particularly prestigious
position in the collection as its volumes include
depictions of the royal residences, monuments,
records of historical occasions, botanical and
natural history subjects as well as etchings made
after masterpieces in the royal collections. Up
until that time engravers were not admitted into
the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, founded
in 1648. When the Academy was dissolved in 1793,
the plates it contained along with those of the
Cabinet du Roi, among others, formed part of the
national collection of chalcography.
In 1670, Louis XIV's minister,
Colbert, recognising the value of the etchings
in the royal collections, assembled them together
into twenty-three volumes for the purpose of promoting
the achievements of the reign of Louis XIV. In
1684, the king received the Jesuit priest Father
Philippe Couplet at Versailles who had spent 25
years in China and came bearing gifts of woodblock-printed
Chinese books and presented for the first time
at court a Chinese boy who had accompanied him
on the voyage from Macau. Couplet's visit fuelled
Louis XIV's fascination with Asia and encouraged
him to send the first French mission to China,
marking the beginning of intellectual and cultural
exchanges between these two great nations and
the birth of sinology in France. Many Chinese
books were subsequently acquired and translated
for the Bibliotheque du Roi (the royal library),
forming the best collection of its kind in Europe.
This first mission, organised
by Colbert, arrived in Peking in February 1688
at the court of the Qing dynasty emperor Kangxi
(r.1662-1722). It came bearing scientific instruments,
a group of mathematicians, books on a range of
diverse subjects, and a volume of prints from
the Cabinet du Roi. Kangxi, like Louis XIV, was
a man of vision with a keen interest in the arts
and sciences. Since there already existed a long
history of woodblock printing in China, the emperor
was highly receptive to the precision and detail
made possible by this new method of image-making.
Thus began a fruitful exchange between China and
France, encouraged by Kangxi and Louis XIV, two
great patrons of art, literature and science.
Dating from the seventeenth
to nineteenth centuries, the etchings selected
for this exhibition trace the development of the
art of copper engraving and includes those from
the Cabinet du Roi depicting the palace at Versailles,
and events such as the Carousel of 1662 held to
celebrate the birth of King Louis XIV's son, among
others. Other notable prints date to the nineteenth
century when the practice of creating prints from
masterpieces held in the Louvre collections was
popular. These include La Joconde better known
as the Mona Lisa, by Leonardo da Vinci, as well
as subjects by Nicolas Poussin, Jean-August Dominique
Ingres and Raphael.
Without doubt, the highlight
of the exhibition will be the two 'Coronelli globes',
named after the cartographer and cosmographer
Vincenzo Coronelli (1650-1718). The globes are
reduced versions of the famous 'Marly Globes'
presented to Louis XIV by Cardinal d'Estr?es in
the seventeenth century showing the celestial
world as it was at the time of Louis XIV's birth,
and the terrestrial world at a time when mapping
the known world represented a record of discovery.
This will be the first time that these globes
have been presented outside of France and are
a unique opportunity to view the world as it was
understood in seventeenth century France.
Another of the highlights
is the map of Paris known as the Turgot map, named
after the head of the municipality of Paris, Michel
Etienne Turgot who commissioned a new map of the
city in 1734. The map shows the city in unprecedented
detail as if viewed from above by a bird. Its
production entailed one of the most comprehensive
surveys of Paris of its time.
The Louvre's acquisition
policy, and a programme of commissioning works
from contemporary artists has contributed to the
growth of the chalcography collection which now
holds over 13,000 copper plates. Due to its high
quality and historical importance, the chalcography
of the Louvre now commands the same attention
as the Museum's other collections. Since 1895,
the Reunion des Musees Nationaux has managed the
commercial side of the chalcography, making and
marketing prints pulled from the original copperplates.
One of the further aims of this exhibition is
to show how despite the advent of photography
in the nineteenth century, which changed forever
the future of printmaking, the fine tradition
of copper engraving continues to be practiced
by artists today.
An illustrated catalogue
of the exhibition will be available.
Associated public
events at the Museum
Mr Pascal Torres
Guardiola, Curator of the Louvre Chalcography
Collection, will give a talk (in French with English
translation) on Thursday 15 June at 6:00 pm.
Dr Greg Thomas,
Associate Professor of the Dept of Fine Arts,
HKU, will give a guided tour of the exhibition
(in English) on Saturday 17 June at 3:00 pm.
back
to top
|
