Gilles Demarteau’s crayon-manner engraving, “Farmyard with ruined buildings and two children playing on bales of hay”, c1759

Gilles Demarteau (1722–1776)

“Farmyard with ruined buildings and two children playing on bales of hay” (descriptive title only), c1759, after a chalk drawing by François Boucher (1703–1770), published in Paris by Giles Demarteau and printed by P Aubert (fl.c.1755–1775).

Regarding the publication of this print, the Curator of the British Museum offers the following insights:

“Plate 1 in the catalogue published by Demarteau's nephew in 1788. The first impressions were printed in black and issued in 1759” (see BM inv. no. 1868,0612.339).

Crayon-manner engraving printed in sanguine coloured ink on laid paper, trimmed with a narrow margin around the image borderline (with loss of lettered publication details on lower edge) and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 29.4 x 40.3 cm; (inner image borderline) 26.8 x 37.8 cm.

 Inscribed on plate along the lower margin: (left) “Boucher in. Del.”; (right) “Demarteau scul.”

De Leymarie 11 (Leopold de Leymarie 1896, “L'Oeuvre de Gilles Demarteau l'aine graveur du Roi”, Paris, Georges Rapilly, p. 19, cat. no. 11 [see https://archive.org/details/loeuvredegillesd00leym/page/18/mode/2up]); IFF 11 (Inventaire du Fonds Français: Bibliothèque Nationale, Département des Estampes); Jean-Richard 597 (Jean-Richard Pierrette 1978, “L'Oeuvre Gravé de François Boucher dans la Collection Edmond de Rothschild”, Paris, Éditions des Musées Nationaux, cat. no. 597).

See also the description of this print offered by the British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1868-0612-339.

Condition: strong impression trimmed with a narrow margin around the image borderline (with loss of lettered publication details on lower edge). Beyond a few marks in the sky area (e.g. the dot marks at upper left) and a closed tear on the upper margin edge, the sheet is in a good condition for its considerable age and is laid upon an archival support sheet of millennium quality washi paper.

I am selling this beautifully romantic crayon-manner stipple engraving after the Boucher’s design for the total cost of AU$243 (currently US$173.63/EUR147.31/GBP133.14 at the time of this listing) including Express Mail (EMS) postage and handling to anywhere in the world, but not (of course) any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries.

If you are interested in purchasing this interesting example interpretative printmaking where a stipple roulette is employed to mimic the grainy texture of a chalk drawing, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This print has been sold