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Article Peintures antiques découvertes à Herculanum...no. 38 (Antique paintings discovered at Herculaneum...no. 38) by Antoine Maria Stagnon, draughtsman and engraver, 1751-1805 finished by Pierre-Philippe Choffard, draughtsman and engraver, 1730-1809, after a drawing by Pierre Adrien Pâris, painter, architect, draughtsman, decorator, and engraver, 1745-1819

finished by Pierre-Philippe Choffard, draughtsman and engraver, 1730-1809, after a drawing by Pierre Adrien Pâris, painter, architect, draughtsman, decorator, and engraver, 1745-1819, from a book compiled by Richard, or Jean-Claude Richard, abbé de Saint-Non, draughtsman, etcher, and aquatinter, 1727-1791

A pair of theater scenes, in simple stage settings, is depicted here. In the scene on the left, an old man leans on a staff and gazes at two figures seated on the left, one of whom plays an aulos. In the scene on the right, a man with a mask over his mouth points to two women standing at the left.

This is a plate from a book, Voyage pittoresque, ou Description des royaumes de Naples et de Sicile, compiled by Richard de Saint-Non (1727-1791), that was published in five folio volumes from 1781 to 1786. This image is from volume 2, which is dated 1782, the full title of which is Peintures antiques découvertes à Herculanum et conservées dans le Musaeum de Portici, no. 38 (Antique paintings discovered at Herculaneum and conserved in the Museum of Portici, no. 38).[1] This plate is from Chapitre Septième. Tableaux & Peintures antiques d'Herculanum. It faces page 19 and a description of it appears under the heading, "SCÈNES COMIQUES," which is given here in translation, as follows:

These two fragments of antique paintings which are found in the fourth volume of Antiquities from Herculaneum, plates 33 and 34, are extremely curious, and perhaps unique in their genre. It is probable that the painter wanted to represent two comic scenes: it would be very difficult to determine the subject of them; but who knows if these manuscripts from Herculaneum on which literary Europe had such great hopes, and which she saw neglected with so many regrets, did not include the Comedies which served as the model for the painter. Pliny speaks of a certain Callade who excelled in the representations of comic scenes, and of an Antiphile who was celebrated for tragic scenes. With regard to the action of the different personnages, one of these figures who seems to play a role of a valet, a Dave, is helped in being recognized by his short costume, which was the dress of slaves in the homes of the Ancients. The gesture he makes with his right hand is a gesture of derision which is perpetuated until our own time: the embarrassment of the young person whom he designates, and who is seen smiling while covering the lower part of her face, can serve to explain it. Regarding the horribly charged mask that the slave carries, everyone knows that the Ancients made use of them and by giving masks to their Actors which, up close, seemed hideous; but whose deformity disappeared, at least in part, by the distance in which the spectators found themselves in theaters of vast extent: moreover the construction of these masks had the purpose of augmenting and strengthening immensely the voice of the actor, and that which is represented here, indicates clearly by its form this objective. It is not of any help in determining the subject by the other fragment of antique painting, not having any decided action: it is, it seems, a kind of grotesque concert, in which one of the actors, who is represented as being a 'tibicen,' or a public flute player, is seen playing two flutes at once; a practiced custom among the Ancients and known through quantities of bas-reliefs, Campanien vases, known more under the name of Etruscan vases, and engraved antique gems.[2]

Note that there is a slight difference in the inscription under the image to the right between this etching and the image in Copy 1 of this volume in the Rare Book Division. The inscription reads in Copy 1: "Revu. par Choffard" instead of "Terminé par Choffard." The inscription in the Rosenwald copy is the same as this etching: "Terminé par Choffard." See 44/U, a similar pair of theater scenes, plate no. 62, which comes from the same chapter.

About the Artists

Antoine Maria Stagnon, draughtsman and engraver, 1751-1805
Antoine Maria Stagnon was an Italian draughtsman and engraver who was born in Mondelli in 1751, and who died in Turin in 1805. He engraved the state seals for the king of Sardinia but, most notably, he engraved the costumes and uniforms of Sardinia and the north of Italy. The abbé de Saint-Non employed him to engrave some plates for his Voyage pittoresque.... Later, his plates were modified and signed with the name Choffard to which Stagnon objected vigorously.[3]

Pierre-Philippe Choffard, draughtsman and engraver, 1730-1809
Pierre-Philippe Choffard was a draughtsman and engraver as well as a writer. Choffard was born in 1730 in Paris and he died in Paris in 1809. He had as his masters Guillaume Dheulland (ca. 1700-ca. 1770) for whom he drew cartouches for maps, and Pierre-Edmé Babel, a goldsmith. He became known principally for the ornamental headpieces and tailpieces (fleurons and culs-de-lampe) that were used as chapter headings and endings in beautifully illustrated books, such as La Fontaine's Contes (1762), Ovid's Metamorphoses (1767-1771), and the abbé de Saint-Non's Voyage pittoresque... (1781-1786). He also engraved two plates for the Conquêtes de l'Empereur de Chine (1767-1773), through his friendship with Charles-Nicolas Cochin.[4]

Pierre Adrien Pâris, painter, architect, draughtsman, decorator, and engraver, 1745-1819
The artist whose drawing on which this etching was based was Pierre Adrien Pâris, a French architect and stage designer, from Besançon. He was the student of his father, Pierre-François Pâris, architect and topographer to the Prince-Bishop of Basel, and he also studied in Paris under the architect, Louis-François Trouard, and created designs for the entertainments for the wedding of the Dauphin and Marie-Antoinette in 1770. About this time, Pierre-Adrien Pâris traveled to Italy where he lived and worked for five years. He had many influential friends and associated with artists such as Fragonard and provided numerous drawings of antiquities at Pompeii and Herculaneum for the abbé de Saint-Non's Voyage pittoresque.... Pâris traveled extensively in Italy, making architectural drawings, and keeping a journal of all his travels. On his return to Paris, he received numerous architectural commissions. In 1778, he was appointed Dessinateur de la Chambre et du Cabinet du Roi and was ultimately responsible, especially after 1784 when he was appointed Architecte des Menus Plaisirs by Louis XVI, for all the court entertainments and designs for theater productions at Versailles. He also produced designs for stage sets at the Paris Opéra. During the Revolution, he completed the towers of the cathedral at Orléans and built extensions to Colmoulin, a chateau in Normandy. In 1805, Napoleon appointed Pâris as the interim director of the Académie de France in Rome and, during his stay in Rome, he directed the excavations of the Colosseum. At the end of his life, Pâris returned to Besançon and catalogued his art collection which included his own work as well as paintings by Boucher, Fragonard, and Hubert Robert. His collection is now housed in the Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'Archéologie in Besançon.[5]

Richard, or Jean-Claude Richard, abbé de Saint-Non, draughtsman, etcher, and aquatinter, 1727-1791
Richard, or Jean-Claude Richard, abbé de Saint-Non, was a painter in oils, gouache and pastel, a draughtsman, etcher and aquatinter, as well as an art collector and patron of the arts. He was born in Paris in 1727 and died there in 1791. Though he joined the Church as a young man as his family intended, he preferred the study of art. In 1750, he traveled to England and The Netherlands, where he collected some etchings by Rembrandt. It was in Italy, though, that the abbé de Saint-Non spent many years, beginning in 1759, where he befriended and traveled with artists such as Hubert Robert and Fragonard, whose drawings he later etched and published in Fragmens des peintures et des tableaux les plus intéressans des palais et églises d'Italie (1770-1773) and in his Griffonis (1755-1778). One of his finest productions, however, was the publication of Voyage pittoresque de Naples et de Sicile which appeared in five folio volumes between 1781 and 1786. These volumes contain over 500 etched plates which document the topography and mid-18th-century archeological findings at Herculaneum, Pompeii, and excavations in Naples and Sicily. For this project, Saint-Non enlisted the help of numerous other artists and engravers and, under his guidance, Dominique-Vivant Denon wrote the text. The Library of Congress has two sets of Saint-Non's Voyage pittoresque..., both in the Rare Book Division, one set of which is in the Rosenwald Collection, the full citation and call numbers of which are given in the description of this work. Among the luminaries Saint-Non knew were Benjamin Franklin, Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.[6]

Notes

  1. The full bibliographic citation from which this plate derives is as follows: VOYAGE PITTORESQUE OU DESCRIPTION DES ROYAUMES DE NAPLES ET DE SICILE. TOME SECOND. SECONDE PARTIE DU PREMIER VOLUME, CONTENANT Une Description des Antiquités d'Herculanum, des Plans & des Détails de son Théâtre, avec une Notice abrégée des différens Spectacles des Anciens. Les Antiquités de Pompeïi. La Description des Champs Phlégréens, & enfin celle de la Campagnie & des Villes des environs de Naples. A Paris. M. DCC. LXXXII. AVEC APPROBATION, ET PRIVILEGE DU ROI. Rare Book Division, Library of Congress. Copy 1: DG821.S14. Copy 2: Rosenwald Collection, no. 1697. [back to article]
  2. Original text: "Ces deux morceaux de Peintures antiques que l'on a trouvés dans le quatrième Volume des Antiquités d'Herculanum, Planches 33 & 34, sont infiniment curieux, & peut-être uniques dans leur genre. Il est vraisemblable que le Peintre a voulu représenter deux Scènes Comiques: il seroit fort difficile d'en déterminer le Sujet; mais qui sait si ces Manuscrits d'Herculanum sur lesquels l'Europe Littéraire avoit de si grandes ésperances, & qu'elle voit négliger avec tant de regrets, ne renfermoient pas les Comédies qui avoient servi de modèle au Peintre. / Pline parle d'un certain Callade qui excelloit dans les représentations de Scènes Comiques, & d'un Antiphile qui étoit célèbre pour les Tragiques. Quant à l'action des différens Personnages, l'une de ces Figures qui paroît représenter un rôle de Valet, un Dave, est aisée à reconnoître à son habit court, qui étoit chez les Anciens l'habillement des Esclaves. / Le geste qu'il fait de sa main droite, est un geste de dérision qui s'est perpétué jusqu'à nous: l'embarras de la jeune Personne qu'il veut désigner, & que l'on voit sourire en se couvrant le bas du visage, peut servir à l'expliquer. Quant au masque horriblement chargé, que porte l'Esclave, tout le monde sait que l'usage des Anciens étoit employer & de donner à leurs Acteurs des masques / [continued p. 20] qui, de près, paroissoient hideux; mais dont la difformité disparoissoit, au moins en partie, par l'éloignement où se trouvoient les Spectateurs dans des Théâtres d'une prodigieuse étendue: d'ailleurs la conformation de ces masques avoit pour but d'augmenter & fortifier infiniment la voix de l'Acteur, & celui qui est représenté ici, désigne clairement par sa forme cette destination. / Il n'est pas aussi aisé de déterminer le Sujet de l'autre morceau de Peinture antique, n'y ayant point une action décidée: c'est, à ce qu'il paroît, une espèce de Concert grotesque, dans lequel l'un des Acteurs, qui est représenté comme l'étoient les Tibicen, ou Joueurs de flûte publics, est vu jouant de deux flûtes à la fois; usage practiqué parmi les Anciens, & connu par quantité de bas-reliefs, de vases campaniens, plus connus sous le nom de vases Etrusques, & de pierres gravées antiques." [back to article]
  3. The biographical information on Stagnon is drawn from Bénézit. [back to article]
  4. For further information on Choffard, see Bénézit, as well as an article, "Pierre-Philippe Choffard," by Christian Michel in Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online External Link (subscription only). [back to article]
  5. The information on Pierre-Adrien Pâris given here was derived from Bénézit and an article, "Pierre-Adrien Pâris," by Alain Gruber in Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online External Link (subscription only). [back to article]
  6. The principal sources for the life and work of the abbé de Saint-Non given here are Bénézit and an article by Hélène Guicharnaud, "Abbe de Saint-Non [Richard, Jean-Claude]," in Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online External Link (subscription only). [back to article]

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  • Peintures antiques découvertes à Herculanum...no. 38 (Antique paintings discovered at Herculaneum...no. 38) by Antoine Maria Stagnon, draughtsman and engraver, 1751-1805 finished by Pierre-Philippe Choffard, draughtsman and engraver, 1730-1809, after a drawing by Pierre Adrien Pâris, painter, architect, draughtsman, decorator, and engraver, 1745-1819

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Peintures antiques découvertes à Herculanum...no. 38 Antique paintings discovered at Herculaneum...no. 38 by Antoine Maria Stagnon, draughtsman and engraver, -1805 finished by Pierre-Philippe Choffard, draughtsman and engraver, 1730 to 1809, after a drawing by Pierre Adrien Pâris, painter, architect, draughtsman, decorator, and engraver, 1745 to 1819. Web.. https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200182930/.

APA citation style:

Peintures antiques découvertes à Herculanum...no. 38 Antique paintings discovered at Herculaneum...no. 38 by Antoine Maria Stagnon, draughtsman and engraver, -1805 finished by Pierre-Philippe Choffard, draughtsman and engraver, 1730 to 1809, after a drawing by Pierre Adrien Pâris, painter, architect, draughtsman, decorator, and engraver, 1745 to 1819. [Web.] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200182930/.

MLA citation style:

Peintures antiques découvertes à Herculanum...no. 38 Antique paintings discovered at Herculaneum...no. 38 by Antoine Maria Stagnon, draughtsman and engraver, -1805 finished by Pierre-Philippe Choffard, draughtsman and engraver, 1730 to 1809, after a drawing by Pierre Adrien Pâris, painter, architect, draughtsman, decorator, and engraver, 1745 to 1819. Web.. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200182930/>.