Kolbe & Fanning
Auction 159 6 Mar 2021
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Physionotrace Portrait of a Young Gentleman
Fouquet, Jean-Baptiste, with Gilles-Louis Chrétien. PHYSIONOTRACE PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG GENTLEMAN. c. 1790s. Circular portrait measuring 6 cm in diameter, within a contemporary gilt wood frame measuring 9 cm in diameter. Frame cracked. Very good or better. The physionotrace was a semi-automated method of portraiture developed in the 1780s by Gilles-Louis Chrétien (1754–1811). The subject sat in a box connected to a pantograph, through which a tracing of the subject's physiognomy was produced, both on paper and on a prepared copper plate. The paper tracing would be enhanced by hand by an artist; the plate also required finishing. The result, however, was a profile portrait that was not only remarkable for its accuracy but which was reproduceable, with the sitter generally receiving a dozen or so engraved aquatint prints. Chrétien worked with various artists, with French miniaturist Jean-Baptiste Fouquet (c. 1761–1799) assisting him with the present work. Ex Prince Jean-Louis de Faucigny-Lucinge (Couturier et Nicolay, Paris, 23 octobre 1992), lot 139.
Fouquet, Jean-Baptiste, with Gilles-Louis Chrétien. PHYSIONOTRACE PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG GENTLEMAN. c. 1790s. Circular portrait measuring 6 cm in diameter, within a contemporary gilt wood frame measuring 9 cm in diameter. Frame cracked. Very good or better. The physionotrace was a semi-automated method of portraiture developed in the 1780s by Gilles-Louis Chrétien (1754–1811). The subject sat in a box connected to a pantograph, through which a tracing of the subject's physiognomy was produced, both on paper and on a prepared copper plate. The paper tracing would be enhanced by hand by an artist; the plate also required finishing. The result, however, was a profile portrait that was not only remarkable for its accuracy but which was reproduceable, with the sitter generally receiving a dozen or so engraved aquatint prints. Chrétien worked with various artists, with French miniaturist Jean-Baptiste Fouquet (c. 1761–1799) assisting him with the present work. Ex Prince Jean-Louis de Faucigny-Lucinge (Couturier et Nicolay, Paris, 23 octobre 1992), lot 139.