Auguste Gaspard Louis Desnoyers
Encyclopedia
Auguste Gaspard Louis, Baron Boucher-Desnoyers (19 December 1779, Paris - 16 February 1857), was one of the most eminent of modern French engravers
. His father held the office of commissary-general in the military household of Monsieur, afterwards Louis XVIII
, but through unforeseen misfortunes young Desnoyers was compelled to choose for himself a career. Intending to enter the corps of engineers, he devoted every moment he could spare to drawing from the study of mathematics. At the age of twelve he was introduced to Lethière
, who admitted him into his studio, where he soon attracted notice. But the rapid progress he made in drawing was just the means to an end. This end was soon accomplished, for the engraver Darcis, who had seen a 'Head of a Magdalen,' which Desnoyers engraved on tin when scarcely ten years old, took him under his care, and employed him on the outlines of the plates after Carle Vernet, on which he was then engaged. In 1796 an engraving in the dotted style of a 'Young Bacchante,' from a drawing by Grevedon, met with a succeeded far beyond the hopes of the young artist. He next produced a number of small subjects of similar character, which were well received, and at the Salon of 1799 he exhibited his engraving of 'Venus disarming Cupid,' after Robert Lefèvre
, which won a prize of 2000 francs. In this year he entered the studio of Alexandre Tardieu
, where he made some studies in etching and line-engraving; but an engagement to engrave Hilaire Ledru's 'Pénibles Adieux' did not allow him to remain for any great length of time.
The success of his engraving in line of 'Hope supporting Man to the Tomb,' after a sketch by Caraffa exhibited at the Salon of 1801, procured him a commission to engrave for the Musée the 'La belle jardinière
' of Raphael
. Just at this time Desnoyers was drawn in the conscription
, and Lucien Bonaparte
went to his brother
to solicit the artist's exemption. "Has he work in hand for the Republic?" asked the First Consul, in very bad humour. "Yes," said Luoien. "Well, then let him pay if he wish to be replaced," abruptly replied Napoleon. The council of revision, however, fortunately deemed him unfit for military service, although his constitution left nothing to be desired. From this time he rose rapidly to the first rank in his adopted art, and in 1806 gained the large gold medal for his engraving of the celebrated antique cameo of 'Ptolemy II. Philadelphus and Arsinoe," belonging to the Empress Josephine
, which is now in the Hermitage Palace
at St. Petersburg. His next important work was the full-length portrait of the Emperor Napoleon in his coronation robes, after Gérard
. This engraving was exhibited at the Salon of 1810, and for it Desnoyers received no less a sum than £2000, together with the return of the plate after 600 impressions had been taken ofE. He engraved also in 1810 a small portrait of the Empress Marie Louise
, which has a curious history. The Austrian princess had not set foot on French soil when her portrait was being sold in Paris by thousands. The likenesses differed, but all were frightfully ugly. Napoleon in a rage sent in the middle of the night for Baron Denon
, and commanded him to go instantly to Desnoyers and desire him to engrave the portrait of the future empress. "Round head, fair hair, high forehead," were the brief instructions sent to the artist, who worked day and night until, at the end of four days, a proof was ready for approval. The emperor thought it superb, and had already ordered its immediate publication, when he received a faithful miniature of the archduchess, which rendered an alteration of the plate imperative, for the face of the new empress, instead of being round, was a very elongated oval. Twenty impressions had been taken when Desnoyers again set to work, and on the morrow the authentic portrait of Marie Louise was in circulation throughout Paris.
The empire fell, but the talented engraver continued to enjoy the favour of the court, and held a position among engravers similar to that of Baron Gérard among painters, and of Baron Bosio
among sculptors. Elected a member of the Institute in 1816, he was appointed engraver to the king in 1825, and created a Baron in 1828, receiving soon after the cross of an officer of the Legion of Honour
. He engraved many of the master-pieces of the Louvre
, but after 1848 he did but little, for age had enfeebled his hand and weakened his sight. Desnoyers died in Paris on the 16th of February, 1857. He appears to the best advantage in his transcripts of the works of ancient masters, especially Raphael, whose characteristics he renders with the greatest truth and skill. His masterpieces are the 'Belle Jardinière' of Raphael, and the 'Vierge aux rochers
' of Leonardo da Vinci
. But, although marked by exceptional talent, his engravings in line lack the freedom and breadth that distinguish those he executed in the dotted style. The landscape backgrounds of his plates were for the most part engraved by Friedrich Giessler of Nuremberg.
Among Desnoyers's works the first place must be assigned to his engravings after the Madonnas of Raphael. These are as follow:
Desnoyers's other works include:
Engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design on to a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing...
. His father held the office of commissary-general in the military household of Monsieur, afterwards Louis XVIII
Louis XVIII of France
Louis XVIII , known as "the Unavoidable", was King of France and of Navarre from 1814 to 1824, omitting the Hundred Days in 1815...
, but through unforeseen misfortunes young Desnoyers was compelled to choose for himself a career. Intending to enter the corps of engineers, he devoted every moment he could spare to drawing from the study of mathematics. At the age of twelve he was introduced to Lethière
Guillaume Guillon-Lethière
Guillaume Guillon Lethière was a French neoclassical painter.Born in Guadeloupe in 1760 to a French colonial official named Pierre Guillon and a disenfranchised "mulatto" mother, Lethière has been often written about in the context of French colonial history and the French Revolution.At 14 years...
, who admitted him into his studio, where he soon attracted notice. But the rapid progress he made in drawing was just the means to an end. This end was soon accomplished, for the engraver Darcis, who had seen a 'Head of a Magdalen,' which Desnoyers engraved on tin when scarcely ten years old, took him under his care, and employed him on the outlines of the plates after Carle Vernet, on which he was then engaged. In 1796 an engraving in the dotted style of a 'Young Bacchante,' from a drawing by Grevedon, met with a succeeded far beyond the hopes of the young artist. He next produced a number of small subjects of similar character, which were well received, and at the Salon of 1799 he exhibited his engraving of 'Venus disarming Cupid,' after Robert Lefèvre
Robert Lefèvre
Robert Jacques François Faust Lefèvre was a French painter of portraits, history paintings and religious paintings. He was heavily influenced by Jacques-Louis David and his style s reminiscent of the antique.-Life:Robert Lefèvre made his first drawings on the papers of a procureur to whom his...
, which won a prize of 2000 francs. In this year he entered the studio of Alexandre Tardieu
Pierre Alexandre Tardieu
Pierre Alexandre Tardieu was a French engraver. He was a member of the Institut de France, the Saint Petersburg Academy and the Academy of Milan. His students included Auguste Gaspard Louis Desnoyers...
, where he made some studies in etching and line-engraving; but an engagement to engrave Hilaire Ledru's 'Pénibles Adieux' did not allow him to remain for any great length of time.
The success of his engraving in line of 'Hope supporting Man to the Tomb,' after a sketch by Caraffa exhibited at the Salon of 1801, procured him a commission to engrave for the Musée the 'La belle jardinière
La belle jardinière
La belle jardinière, also known as Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist, is a painting by the Italian High Renaissance artist Raphael. It was commissioned by the Sienese patrician Fabrizio Sergardi and shows Mary, Christ and the young John the Baptist...
' of Raphael
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur...
. Just at this time Desnoyers was drawn in the conscription
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
, and Lucien Bonaparte
Lucien Bonaparte
Lucien Bonaparte, Prince Français, 1st Prince of Canino and Musignano , born Luciano Buonaparte, was the third surviving son of Carlo Buonaparte and his wife Letizia Ramolino....
went to his brother
Napoleon I
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
to solicit the artist's exemption. "Has he work in hand for the Republic?" asked the First Consul, in very bad humour. "Yes," said Luoien. "Well, then let him pay if he wish to be replaced," abruptly replied Napoleon. The council of revision, however, fortunately deemed him unfit for military service, although his constitution left nothing to be desired. From this time he rose rapidly to the first rank in his adopted art, and in 1806 gained the large gold medal for his engraving of the celebrated antique cameo of 'Ptolemy II. Philadelphus and Arsinoe," belonging to the Empress Josephine
Joséphine de Beauharnais
Joséphine de Beauharnais was the first wife of Napoléon Bonaparte, and thus the first Empress of the French. Her first husband Alexandre de Beauharnais had been guillotined during the Reign of Terror, and she had been imprisoned in the Carmes prison until her release five days after Alexandre's...
, which is now in the Hermitage Palace
Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. One of the largest and oldest museums of the world, it was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great and has been opened to the public since 1852. Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display,...
at St. Petersburg. His next important work was the full-length portrait of the Emperor Napoleon in his coronation robes, after Gérard
François Gerard
François Pascal Simon, Baron Gérard was a French painter born in Rome, where his father occupied a post in the house of the French ambassador. His mother was Italian. As a baron of the Empire he is sometimes referred to as Baron Gérard.-Life:François Gérard was born in Rome, on 12 March 1770, to...
. This engraving was exhibited at the Salon of 1810, and for it Desnoyers received no less a sum than £2000, together with the return of the plate after 600 impressions had been taken ofE. He engraved also in 1810 a small portrait of the Empress Marie Louise
Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma
Marie Louise of Austria was the second wife of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French and later Duchess of Parma...
, which has a curious history. The Austrian princess had not set foot on French soil when her portrait was being sold in Paris by thousands. The likenesses differed, but all were frightfully ugly. Napoleon in a rage sent in the middle of the night for Baron Denon
Dominique Vivant
Dominique Vivant, Baron de Denon was a French artist, writer, diplomat, author, and archaeologist. He was appointed first director of the Louvre Museum by Napoleon after the Egyptian campaign of 1798-1801.-Biography:...
, and commanded him to go instantly to Desnoyers and desire him to engrave the portrait of the future empress. "Round head, fair hair, high forehead," were the brief instructions sent to the artist, who worked day and night until, at the end of four days, a proof was ready for approval. The emperor thought it superb, and had already ordered its immediate publication, when he received a faithful miniature of the archduchess, which rendered an alteration of the plate imperative, for the face of the new empress, instead of being round, was a very elongated oval. Twenty impressions had been taken when Desnoyers again set to work, and on the morrow the authentic portrait of Marie Louise was in circulation throughout Paris.
The empire fell, but the talented engraver continued to enjoy the favour of the court, and held a position among engravers similar to that of Baron Gérard among painters, and of Baron Bosio
François Joseph Bosio
Baron François Joseph Bosio was a French sculptor who achieved distinction in the first quarter of the nineteenth century with his work for Napoleon and for the restored French monarchy.-Biography:...
among sculptors. Elected a member of the Institute in 1816, he was appointed engraver to the king in 1825, and created a Baron in 1828, receiving soon after the cross of an officer of the Legion of Honour
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
. He engraved many of the master-pieces of the Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
, but after 1848 he did but little, for age had enfeebled his hand and weakened his sight. Desnoyers died in Paris on the 16th of February, 1857. He appears to the best advantage in his transcripts of the works of ancient masters, especially Raphael, whose characteristics he renders with the greatest truth and skill. His masterpieces are the 'Belle Jardinière' of Raphael, and the 'Vierge aux rochers
Virgin of the Rocks
The Virgin of the Rocks is the name used for both of two paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, of the same subject, and of a composition which is identical except for two significant details...
' of Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
. But, although marked by exceptional talent, his engravings in line lack the freedom and breadth that distinguish those he executed in the dotted style. The landscape backgrounds of his plates were for the most part engraved by Friedrich Giessler of Nuremberg.
Among Desnoyers's works the first place must be assigned to his engravings after the Madonnas of Raphael. These are as follow:
- La Belle Jardinière. 1804.
- La Vierge au DonataireMadonna of Foligno (Raphael)The Madonna of Foligno is a painting by the Italian High Renaissance painter Raphael. First painted on wood, it was later transferred to canvas.-History:...
. 1814. - La Vierge au LingeMadonna with the Blue DiademThe Madonna with the Blue Diadem is a painting by Raphael and his pupil Gianfrancesco Penni, probably painted in Rome around 1512, now at the Louvre....
. 1814. - La Madonna della SediaMadonna della seggiolaThe Madonna della seggiola or Madonna della sedia is a Madonna painting by the Italian renaissance artist Raphael, dating to c. 1513-1514 and housed in the Palazzo Pitti collection in Florence...
. 1814. - La Madonna del Pesce. 1822. (pictured)
- La Madonna della Oasa d'AlbaAlba MadonnaThe Alba Madonna is a painting by the Italian High Renaissance artist Raphael, depicting Mary, Jesus and John the Baptist, in a typical Italian countryside. John the Baptist is holding up a cross to Jesus, which the baby Jesus is grasping. All three figures are staring at the cross...
. 1837. - La Vierge au Berceau. 1831 .
- La Belle Jardinière de Florence. 1841.
- La Madonna di San SistoSistine MadonnaSistine Madonna, also called La Madonna di San Sisto, is an oil painting by the Italian artist Raphael. Finished shortly before his death, ca. 1513–1514, as a commissioned altarpiece, it was the last of the painter's Madonnas and the last painting he completed with his own hands...
. 1846. (pictured)
Desnoyers's other works include:
- The Visitation; after Raphael. 1824.
- St. Catharine of Alexandria; after the same. 1824.
- The Transfiguration; after the same. 1840.
- La Vierge aux rochers; after Leonardo da Vinci. 1812.
- The Holy Family; after the same.
- The Magdalen; after CorreggioAntonio da CorreggioAntonio Allegri da Correggio , usually known as Correggio, was the foremost painter of the Parma school of the Italian Renaissance, who was responsible for some of the most vigorous and sensuous works of the 16th century...
. - Eliezer and Rebekah; after PoussinNicolas PoussinNicolas Poussin was a French painter in the classical style. His work predominantly features clarity, logic, and order, and favors line over color. His work serves as an alternative to the dominant Baroque style of the 17th century...
. 1819. - Moses rescued from the Waters'; after the same. (The landscape engraved by Filhol and Niquet.)
- Venus disarming Cupid; after Robert Lefèvre; in dotted manner. 1799.
- The Muses and the Pierides: after Perino del Vaga. 1831.
- Cupid and Psyche and 'Cupid bending his bow'; after drawings by IngresJean Auguste Dominique IngresJean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres was a French Neoclassical painter. Although he considered himself to be a painter of history in the tradition of Nicolas Poussin and Jacques-Louis David, by the end of his life it was Ingres's portraits, both painted and drawn, that were recognized as his greatest...
from antique sculpture ; in the 'Musée Français.' 1808. - Ptolemy II. Philadelphus and Arsinoe; after a drawing by Ingres from an antique cameo.
- Belisarius; after Gérard. 1806.
- Francis I and his sister, Margaret of Navarre; after RichardJean-Claude RichardJean-Claude Richard de Saint-Non was a French painter and engraver.-Family background and history:His family estate, from which he derives his full title, is The Château de Saint-Nom. It is located in the village of Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche in Yvelines, France...
. 1817. - Hope supporting Man to the Tomb; after Caraffa. 1801.
- Les Pénibles Adieux; after Hilaire Ledru; in dotted manner. 1802.
- Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul; after Robert Lefèvre. 1802.
- Napoleon I, Emperor of the French; full-length; after Gérard. 1808.
- Marie Louise, Empress of the French. 1810.
- Napoleon, King of Rome; after Gérard.
- Baron Alexander von Humboldt; an etching ; after a sketch by Gérard. 1806.
- Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States of America; in dotted manner. 1801.
- Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord, Prince of Benevento; full-length; after Gérard. 1814.