Important Christmas Fine Art Auction: Haute Epoque, Jewels and Colonial Treasures
Lot 342:
Pair of important watercolors, aquatint and charcoal painted on engraving paper. Artist proof. An identical pair of works by this important French engraver and draftsman preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of New York, accession numbers 64.550.3 and 64.550.4. Painted around 1788–94. Measurements of each image: 31 × 23.6 cm, measurements with cardboard paper 38.6 × 28.5 cm, each one. Born in 1753 in Paris, Charles-Melchior Descourtis was a student of Janinet and a contemporary of the engraver Antoine Carrée. He followed in the wake of his teacher’s engravings on paper, overcoming, like him, many of the difficulties presented by this way of mixing colors, using four plates. Before 1789 we find his name in several revolutionary pieces: The Young Darruder, according to Swebach; Joseph Agricola Vialla, according to Swebach; Session of the Legislative Body in the Orangerie de Saint-Cloud and liberation day of the 18th Brumaire Year VIII6, in Paris, in Descourtis, rue des Grands-Degrés. Provenance: former private collection of a collector and renowned Barcelona doctor, Barcelona. Settlement of family inheritance, lot without reserve.
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