Vignettes pour les "Tablettes historiques, topographiques et physiques de Bourgogne"
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
sheet #1: 4 5/16 x 4 13/16 in. (11 x 12.3 cm) image #1: 3 3/4 x 4 3/16 in. (9.5 x 10.7 cm) sheet #2: 4 x 2 3/16 in. (10.1 x 5.5 cm) image #2: 3 11/16 x 1 15/16 in. (9.3 x 4.9 cm) sheet #3: 4 1/8 x 2 5/16 in. (10.5 x 5.9 cm) image #3: 3 11/16 x 1 15/16 in. (9.3 x 4.9 cm) sheet #4: 4 x 2 3/16 in. (10.2 x 5.5 cm) image #4: 3 11/16 x 1 15/16 in. (9.3 x 4.9 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1960
Accession Number
60.623.25(1-4)
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the mid-18th century, French artists Gabriel de Saint-Aubin andienne Fessard collaborated these delicate etchings, titled *Vignettes pour lesTablettes historiques, top et physiques de Bourgogne"*1755). Created as ornamental illustrations for a scholarly book exploring the history, landscapes, and natural features of Burgundy—a prosperous region famed for its wines, castles, and ducal heritage—these four small prints (each roughly 4 x 2 inches) feature portraits of men and coats of arms. Such vignettes served as elegant chapter headers or tailpieces, blending portraiture with heraldry to evo...
About the Artist
Gabriel de Saint-Aubin|Etienne Fessard · 1724–1780
Gabriel de Saint-Aubin (1724–1780) was one of the most vivid and irrepressible graphic artists of eighteenth-century France, a tireless draughtsman whose sketchbooks and prints constitute an extraordinary visual chronicle of Parisian life during the Ancien Régime. Born into a family with strong connections to the decorative arts — his father was an embroiderer to the king — Saint-Aubin received fo...