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118.
Johannes Hevelius (b. 1611-d. 1687), Selenographia sive Lunae descriptio
(Selenographia, or a Description of the Moon) Cover
- Illustration, Danzig, 1647, Reserve
of Rare and Precious Books, Rés. V. 244
The Selenographia by the famous Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius is the first lunar atlas. It also deals with the construction of lenses and telescopes and with the observation of celestial bodies in general. The author himself engraved the numerous text illustrations and plates, including the three large double-page maps of the moon and forty descriptions of the lunar phases. Upon receiving a royal pension, the grateful Hevelius sent Louis XIV the copy displayed here.
119.
Les Campagnes de Louis XIV. Campagne
du Roy pendant l'année M.DC.LXXVI (The Campaigns of Louis XIV.
The King's Campaign during the Year 1676), after 1678, Manuscripts
Department, Western Section, Fr. 7892, Parchment
The Dutch War (1672-78), during which Louis XIV demonstrated strategic and tactical capabilities, provided the occasion for a skillful propaganda campaign by his historian-poets Boileau (b. 1636-d. 1711) and Racine (b. 1639-d. 1699). The war also produced the Campagnes de Louis XIV which contains maps of the operations and movements of French troops. Louis is illustrated here at the beginning of the volume dressed as a Roman emperor.
123.
Molière (b. 1622-d. 1673), Les Oeuvres posthumes (Posthumous
Works), vol. 7 (Dom Juan, ou Le
Festin de Pierre) (Dom Juan or the Feast of Pierre), Paris,
1682, Reserve of Rare and Precious Books, Rés. Yf. 3167
Because Dom Juan features a debauched, hypocritical noble who defies God, the play was quickly canceled and never published in Molière's lifetime. This copy of the first edition of Molière's complete works was published in 1682 and included Dom Juan, shortening its most offensive scene. The text was further revised by the censor. During the nineteenth century, Molière's publishers produced a text of the play as close as possible to the original.
125.
François de Salignac de La Mothe-Fénelon (b. 1651- d.
1715), Les Aventures de Télémaque (The
Adventures of Telemachus), 1694, Manuscripts Department, Western
Section, Fr. 14944, Paper
Télémaque, a pedagogical treatise based on the fourth book of the Odyssey, was part of an extensive educational curriculum designed by Fénelon, preceptor to Louis XIV's grandson, the Duke of
Burgundy. This "exceptional book," in Voltaire's words,
emphasizes self-control, a return to the earth, and a reduction
in spending. Despotic tendencies and a penchant for lavishness
and war are discouraged. The volume opens with a portrait of
Fénelon on a sheet of vellum.
127.
Apotheosis of Claudius, Rome,
A.D. 54, Department of Coins, Medals and Antiquities, Babelon 265, Sardonyx
cameo in three layers, square frame of enameled gold
This cameo shows the apotheosis or deification of a Roman emperor, a frequent subject of first-century art, taken to heaven by an eagle. The emperor, probably Claudius (A.D. 41-54), wears Jupiter's breastplate and an imperial cloak, and is crowned with a laurel wreath by a Winged Victory. When Louis XIV acquired the cameo, the subject was incorrectly identified as the apotheosis of the imperial prince Germanicus, who died in the year 19.
130.
Jean-Antoine Fraisse, Livre de dessins chinois (Book of Chinese
Drawings) , Paris, 1735, Reserve of Rare and Precious Books,
Rés. V. 86
The Book of Chinese Drawings was among the Condés' collections of
objets d'art seized in 1793 during the Revolution and deposited
in the Bibliothèque Nationale. The book contains fifty-four
plates, some of which are made up in long folding format,
alternately depicting landscapes--in which Chinese people fish
and play with kites--and floral compositions. The scene here
depicts children playing with a stag beetle.
135.
Nicolas Bion, Globe terrestre... (Terrestrial Globe on
which are Placed the Most Recent Observations by Members of the Royal
Academy of Sciences...Dedicated to the Duke of Berry), Paris,
1712, Department of Maps and Plans, Ge A402, Engraved globe made of
gores (strips of paper) mounted on a sphere
Some prominent French cartographers around the turn of the
eighteenth century (and even later) believed that a Western Sea
existed, to the west of Louisiana, which linked the Atlantic and
Pacific oceans. Nicolas Bion (b. 1652-d. 1733), the King's
engineer for mathematical instruments, incorporated this imagined
sea on two terrestrial globes, including the one exhibited here.
He portrayed California as an island after having drawn it as a
peninsula on an earlier globe.
136.
Jacques-Christophe Leblon, Portrait
of Louis XV, 1739, Department of Prints and Photographs, AA4
Rés., Engraving
After moving to Paris around 1735, Jacques-Christophe Leblon (b. 1667-d. 1741), a German miniaturist, painter, and engraver, obtained a royal warrant, a stipend, and lodging in the Louvre from Louis XV (1715-1774). The king also granted Leblon exclusive rights for color-engraving in France, on the express condition that he reveal his secret method to two royal commissioners. Leblon's major work is this life-size bust portrait of his patron.
137.
Louis XV, Cours des principaux fleuves
et rivières de l'Europe (Courses of the Principal Rivers
and Streams of Europe), 1718, Department of Rare and Precious
Books, Rés. G. 2972
Even as a child, Louis XV was fascinated by geography. In 1718 a
little print shop was set up in the Tuileries where the young
king learned the rudiments of typography. There, Louis XV
composed and, in part, printed this summary of Guillaume
Delisle's geography lessons, "Courses of the Principal Rivers and
Streams of Europe." Much later, Louis gave his mistress, the
marquise de Pompadour (b. 1721-d. 1764), an elegantly bound copy
of his childish "chef d'oeuvre."
138.
Jean-François Janinet (b. 1752-d. 1814), La
Toilette de Venus (The Toilet of Venus), 1784, Department of
Prints and Photographs, Ef 105 Rés., Engraving; aquatint; etching
and tools; colors printed in register
François Boucher's painting of Venus at her toilet, assisted by cherubs, was designed to be hung in the private quarters of the marquise de Pompadour (b. 1721-d. 1764), mistress and friend of Louis XV (1715-1774). Jean-François Janinet invented and developed color aquatint engraving, and this is one example of his work. Thanks to this method, Janinet became the prime interpreter of fashionable painters like Boucher (b. 1703-d. 1770) and Jean-Honoré Fragonard (b. 1732-d. 1806).
140.
Jacques Guay (b. 1711-d. 1797), Louis
XV, 1753, Department of Coins, Medals and Antiquities, Babelon
926, Engraved cameo
This portrait of King Louis XV (1715-1774) is considered the masterpiece of engraving on stone in modern times, for the accuracy of the resemblance, the purity of the stone, and the high quality of the workmanship. Jacques Guay, the king's engraver, skillfully used the three horizontal layers of stone in this cameo. Some parts were left dull while others were polished using a stone polisher according to a process invented by Guay.
141.
Patère de Rennes (Rennes Patera),
first half of the 3rd century A.D., Department of Coins, Medals and
Antiquities, Chabouillet no. 2537 Solid 23-carat gold
This gold patera, used for drinking and in ceremonial libations,
is decorated with imperial coins bearing the portraits of Roman
sovereigns from Hadrian to Geta (the most recent dates from the
year A.D. 209). A bas-relief in the center of the cup symbolizes
the triumph of wine (Bacchus) over strength (Hercules). Found in
Rennes in 1774, the patera was deposited by order of Louis XV
(1715-1774) in the Department of Coins, Medals and Antiquities.
142.
Charles-Nicolas Cochin the Younger (b. 1715-d. 1790), Pompe Funèbre de Catherine Opalinska
(Funeral Ceremonies for Catherine Opalinska), 1747, Department
of Prints and Photographs, Collection Hennin no. 8584, Etching and line-engraving
When his mother-in-law, the wife of the dethroned king of Poland,
died in 1747, Louis XV (1715-1774) ordered a commemorative
ceremony, pictured in this etching, in her honor at Notre Dame
Cathedral in Paris. Observing the death of a member of the royal
family by a highly codified funeral display, marked by Italian
baroque symbolism, became a widespread custom in France during
the seventeenth century. The ceremony glorified the deceased who
underwent a veritable deification.
144.
Louis de Rouvroy, Duke of Saint-Simon (b. 1675-d. 1755), Mémoires, n. d., Manuscripts Department,
Western Section, NAF 23102, Paper
Saint-Simon's account of Louis XIV's death presents important
figures from the last years of his reign, including members of
competing political factions. Louis XIV's death in 1715
unexpectedly opened a period of substantial political thaw,
symbolized by the Duke of Saint-Simon's proposals to increase
participation in the central government, even if only by the
nobility. The dawning Regency would witness a systematic effort
to open up and increase flexibility of government.
155.
Constitution des treize états
de l'Amérique (Constitution of the Thirteen States of America),
Paris, 1783, Reserve of Rare and Precious Books, Rés. 4o Pb.
746
In 1783, a French-language edition of the American Constitution was printed at the behest of Benjamin Franklin (b. 1706-d. 1790), to help his new country obtain the recognition of European courts. The model for the seal of the United States, depicted for the first time, appears in the title. Ironically, this copy born of a successful revolution was produced for Queen Marie-Antoinette (b. 1755-d. 1793), who blocked even moderate reform in France.
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