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Gabriel's EnlightenmentGabriel de Saint-Aubin (1724–1780)
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Destitute when he died and little known during his lifetime. That could be written about many artists who found little support for their craft during their lifetime. Van Gogh knew this well. So too did Gabriel Jacques de Saint-Aubin |
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Chronicling Parisian daily life inspired Saint-Aubin. He wasn't able to paint full time, lacking the funds, so he worked as an engraver while struggling to find himself as a painter of note and respect in 18th Century France. He did spend some time studying under the guidance of Francois Boucher. Three times the artist tried and failed to earn the prestigious Prix de Rome and it's accompanying scholarship in Italy. |
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Title: The Triumph of Pompey (61 B.C.), 1763
Artist: Gabriel de Saint-Aubin, (French 1724-1780)
Medium: Watercolor and Gouache, Pen and Black and Brown Inks, over Chalks and Graphite
Dimensions: 8 3/16 x 15 7/16 in. (20.8 x 39.2 cm)
Permanent Collection: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
promised gift of Leon D. and Debra R. Black and Purchase, Rogers Fund, 2004
Image Courtesy: The Frick Collection, New York
Saint-Aubin provided illustrations of historical scenes and Parisian life. The greatest illustration assignment of Saint-Aubin’s career was the Spectacle de l’histoire romaine which took considerable time and among the two works he produced was The Triumph of Pompey (61 B.C.).
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The Parisian native, who never traveled outside his home city in his life, enjoyed the theatre and the works of Voltaire. He combined his two entertainment escapes in his Allegory in Honor of Voltaire. One of Voltaire's final public appearances, shortly before he died, was at the Théâtre Français during the sixth performance of his tragedy Irène. He received two spontaneous ovations. The first given as he entered his box and the actor Brizard placed a laurel wreath as a crown upon his head. The second was at the conclusion of the play. The actors took turns crowning Voltaire's portrait found on the stage. In his illustration of these two separate moments, acknowledging the respect given to Voltaire, Saint-Aubin combines the two events. |
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The artist inscribed his watercolor and gouache piece The Flirtatious Conversation, with “Old, unreformed debauchee/You think you are seducing this beautiful creature/But long ago the damsel/Made up her mind to be honorable.” The man whispering in the ear of the beautiful lady resembles Saint-Aubin's brother Charles-Germain Saint-Aubin. |
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Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator Colin B. Bailey said, “Contemporaries knew Saint-Aubin as ‘a priapic draftsman’—his elder brother joked that he had produced at least ‘one hundred thousand drawings’—yet apart from a small number of eighteenth-century enthusiasts, this engaging and truly original artist is hardly known today. In keeping with the Frick’s well-established program of monographic exhibitions devoted to major eighteenth-century artists it is thrilling to introduce Saint-Aubin to a larger audience. He was indeed a draftsman of genius; a brilliant, idiosyncratic engraver; and an engaging, if not always successful, painter. As the unsurpassed chronicler of the city of Paris in the heyday of the Enlightenment, he captured all aspects of cultural life with wit, affection, and pride— providing an immensely vivid window into that lost world.” |
The Frick Collection's exhibit celebrating Saint-Aubin is their first collaboration with the Musée du Louvre. The exhibition includes an important selection of Saint-Aubin’s oeuvre, which will feature fifty drawings and a small but exceptional sample of his most memorable paintings and etchings.
Gabriel de Saint-Aubin (1724–1780)
The Frick Collection, New York:
October 30, 2007-January 27, 2008
The Louvre, Paris:
February 27 - May 26, 2008