2006.313: Allegory of the Marriages Performed by the City of Paris in Honor of the Birth of the Duc de Bourgogne

Identification and Creation

Object Number

2006.313

People

Gabriel Jacques de Saint-Aubin, French (Paris 1724 - 1780 Paris)

Title

Allegory of the Marriages Performed by the City of Paris in Honor of the Birth of the Duc de Bourgogne

Other Titles

Original Language Title: Allégorie des Mariages faits par la ville de Paris à la naissance de le Duc de Bourgogne

Classification

Prints

Work Type

print

Date

1751

Culture

French

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/318174

Physical Descriptions

Technique

Etching

Dimensions

Image: 15.4 × 12 cm (6 1/16 × 4 3/4 in.)
Plate: 16.8 × 12.9 cm (6 5/8 × 5 1/16 in.)
Sheet: 20.2 × 15.5 cm (7 15/16 × 6 1/8 in.)

Inscriptions and Marks

• Signed: l.r.: G. de St Aubin fecit
• inscription: l.l., in plate: no 600. Dot. 300l.
• inscription: l.r., in plate: G. de St Aubin fecit
• inscription: lower margin, in plate: Allegorie des Marriages faits par la ville / de paris, a la naissance de mgr le duc de bourgogne en 1751

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

State

iii/iii

Standard Reference Number

Dacier 86; Baudicour, vol. I, no. 5, p. 104

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Nesta and Walter Spink

Accession Year

2006

Object Number

2006.313

Division

European and American Art

Contact

am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Descriptions

Commentary

The painter, draftsman, and printmaker Gabriel Jacques de Saint-Aubin studied with François Boucher and exhibited and taught at the Académie de Saint-Luc. Much of his work chronicles daily Parisian life. He also etched a series of allegorical prints such as this one. The subject matter refers to the celebrations surrounding the birth of the grandson of Louis XV, the Duc de Bourgogne. Louis XV provided 300 livres each for the dowries of 600 of the less fortunate girls of Paris (the inscription in the lower left corner of the print reads "no. 600. Dot. 300l."). The marriages took place throughout churches of Paris on November 9, 1751. Saint-Aubin's allegory depicts Venus seated at the upper right, just below an oval portrait of the young Duke which is held by several putti. Venus is overseeing the transfer of coins from the City of Paris to Hymen, the winged god of marriage. These floating figures are surrounded by a group of putti, who are lighting their torches from the torch held by Hymen. Pont-Neuf and Notre-Dame may be seen in the distant background.

Publication History

• Perrin Stein, Artists and Amateurs: Etching in 18th-century France, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 2013), cat. 36, p. 70 [not Harvard impression, related bibliography]

Verification Level