This toile de Jouy was purchased at public auction on October 22, 1994 and was restored in December 2014 with the support of the Regional Museum Restoration Fund. Printed in 1818 at the Oberkampf factory in Jouy-en-Josas, it depicts various scenes unfolding in front of historical monuments in the South of France.
This cotton fabric was printed using a copper roller. The various scenes were drawn by architect Louis-Hippolyte Lebas (1782-1867) and engraved by Nicolas-Auguste Leisnier (1787-1858). We can see four different scenes taking place in front of historical monuments in the South of France:
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a puppet theater outside the Arles arena and the columns of Riez
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a dancer in front of the Maison Carré in Nîmes
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a bear tamer outside the Triumphal Arc of Orange
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a boules player at the Saint Chamas Flavian bridge in Provence
The whole scene unfolds against a geometrical backdrop composed of striped diamonds whose corners are adorned with small stars. The illustration is arranged in four groups. Each monument is prominently displayed, giving the impression that the scenes are unfolding in perfect harmony with both nature and architecture.
The preliminary drawing as well as the mold stamp (paper test) are currently housed at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris. The stamp is identical to the final print, but the drawing has a number of differences, most notably its absence of background.
Preliminary drawing, Louis-Hyppolite Le Bas, 1818 ©Photo Decorative Arts, Paris, All rights reserved
Mold stamp, Nicolas-Auguste Leisnier, 1818 ©Photo Decorative Arts, Paris All rights reserved
This work demonstrates this period’s widespread penchant for architectural imagery and genre scenes. The creators of these motifs were heavily inspired by the monuments of Roman antiquity. While in this example they take a back seat to the figures, on some works they constitute the main elements of the illustration.
To create this design, Lebas drew inspiration from the engravings published in Raccolta di cinquanta costumi in 1809 in Rome by painter and engraver Bartolomeo Pinelli (1781-1835), particularly engravings n°4, 7, 10 and 12.
Bartolomeo Pinelli, engravings n°4, 7, 10 et 12 in the Raccolta di cinquanta costumi, 1809