Information
30 LADIES OF THE VALOIS & BOURBON COURTS, BEAUTIFULLY COLOURED
BELLIARD, Zéphirin, Jean Pierre SUDRÉ, Charles BAZIN, and Julien VALLON DE VILLENEUVE. Dames de la Cour des XIIe. XIIIe. XIVe. XVe. et XVIe. siècles lithographiées ... m. cccc. xcv. [!].
Paris, Delpech, ca. 1835/40. Folio (40 x 28.5 cm). Lithographed title-page with a gothic architectural frame and 30 (of 31?) lithographed portraits of ladies of the French court from the houses of Valois and Bourbon (in spite of the title, it includes court ladies to the end of the Ancien Régime) mounted on leaves of contemporary wove paper. Beautifully hand coloured, painted and highlighted with gum arabic, turning the prints almost into paintings. Half red calf, richly gold-tooled spine, marbled sides and endpapers (ca. 1900) with the binder's ticket of Gustaf Hedberg (1859-1912), royal bookbinder in Stockholm. With the ca. 1900 bookplate of Gösta Lindberg.
| Orders and Information | € 5000 |
A stunning series of lithographic portraits of ladies of the court of France from the thirteenth through the eighteenth century (covering the houses of Valois and Bourbon upto the French Revolution). In the present copy they are beautifully coloured by a contemporary hand, not only with watercolours and gum arabic, but also with delicate brushwork in a thick and glossy paint, giving the jewellery and the decorative elements in the clothing a three-dimensional effect and spectacular highlights. There are no printed texts except for the title-page, but pencil notes on the mounting leaves (covered by the portraits) indicate the reigning king and occasionally the name of the lady, including the legendary Clémence Isaure of Toulouse (ca. 1450-ca. 1500, according to the legend), Anne Bolyn (1501-1536), and Jeanne d'Aragon (ca. 1500-ca. 1577). Several wear crowns or tiaras and these and their clothing can help to identify others. The portraits were lithographed by Zéphirin Félix Marius Belliard (1798-post 1843), Jean Pierre Sudré (1783-1866), Charles Louis Bazin (1802-1859) and Julien Vallon de Villeneuve (1795-1866), and published by "Delpech," apparently the widow of François Séraphin Delpech (1778-1825).
The series was probably first issued with a smaller number of portraits and with the present title-page, noting court ladies from the twelfth to the sixteenth-century and (for reasons not clear to us) bearing the date 1495 in roman numerals. We have heard of a copy with this title and twenty-six plates. Ours includes thirty portraits, but eight show ladies from the seventeenth and eighteenth-century courts, and the early (approximately chronological) numbering on the backs of most of our portraits suggests there is one portrait lacking, probably from the fourteenth-century. The only copy we have located in a public collection (at the British Library), also matches our title-page, but has forty-four plates, perhaps including some portraits of gentlemen that are sometimes bound with the ladies. The British Library's "1845" date may be based on a supposition that "MCCCXCV" is an error for "MDCCCXLV." We have heard of a copy with thirty-one portraits of ladies, at least twenty-eight probably matching ours, but it has an apparently later title-page noting ladies from the twelfth to the seventeenth centuries, omits Vallon de Villeneuve's name, and has an inscription dated 1840. Our portraits are mounted on folio leaves of wove paper watermarked "J Whatman|Turkey Mill|1835" so the series of thirty-one prints probably dates between 1835 and 1840.
The (slightly damaged) bookbinder's ticket (in red sans-serif capitals on a black background with a red border), reads "D. Hedberg|K. Hofbokbindare|Stockholm." With the title-page slightly browned, but otherwise in very good condition, with only an occasional minor spot. The binding is worn at the hinges and corners, but is otherwise very good. An extremely rare portrait series, splendidly coloured and painted.
