Description
Jean-François BLONDEL (1683-1756) "Perspective view of the ballroom, built in the courtyard of the Hôtel de Ville". 50.5 x 78.2 cm Watercolor gouache and black ink. Insolation, traces of humidity, small gaps at edges and stains. Under glass, wood frame and gilded stucco. Magnificent preparatory watercolor for the book "Fêtes publiques données par la ville de Paris à l'occasion du Mariage de Monseigneur le Dauphin, les 23 et 26 février MDCCXLV", of which the Louvre, among other great collections, holds a printed copy from the Edmond de Rothschild collections (L 198 LR). To celebrate the princely marriage, the city of Paris erected six large buildings in selected locations, "the magnificence of their decorations, both interior and exterior, each of which seemed to be particularly suited to being the unique object of a grand Fête". The two-day festivities, which culminated on February 26 at the Hotel de Ville, featured buffets, orchestras, illuminations, flowers and ceremonies whose sumptuousness justified the production of this engraved collection. For the decorations at the Hotel de Ville, Lange worked on the sculptural decoration of the ballroom, Duparc supplied the earthenware goblets and the famous Gersaint the furniture. Witness the order of July 30, 1745: "to pay cash to Sieur Gersaint, merchant jeweler, the sum of eighteen hundred and forty-three pounds that we have ordered and order him by these presents for the rent of the porcelain furniture by him supplied in various rooms of the Hotel de Ville during the ball given by the city in the month of February last on the occasion of the marriage of M. le dauphin" (see Guillaume Glorieux, "A l'Enseigne de Gersaint", Champ Vallon 2002).
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Jean-François BLONDEL (1683-1756) "Perspective view of the ballroom, built in the courtyard of the Hôtel de Ville". 50.5 x 78.2 cm Watercolor gouache and black ink. Insolation, traces of humidity, small gaps at edges and stains. Under glass, wood frame and gilded stucco. Magnificent preparatory watercolor for the book "Fêtes publiques données par la ville de Paris à l'occasion du Mariage de Monseigneur le Dauphin, les 23 et 26 février MDCCXLV", of which the Louvre, among other great collections, holds a printed copy from the Edmond de Rothschild collections (L 198 LR). To celebrate the princely marriage, the city of Paris erected six large buildings in selected locations, "the magnificence of their decorations, both interior and exterior, each of which seemed to be particularly suited to being the unique object of a grand Fête". The two-day festivities, which culminated on February 26 at the Hotel de Ville, featured buffets, orchestras, illuminations, flowers and ceremonies whose sumptuousness justified the production of this engraved collection. For the decorations at the Hotel de Ville, Lange worked on the sculptural decoration of the ballroom, Duparc supplied the earthenware goblets and the famous Gersaint the furniture. Witness the order of July 30, 1745: "to pay cash to Sieur Gersaint, merchant jeweler, the sum of eighteen hundred and forty-three pounds that we have ordered and order him by these presents for the rent of the porcelain furniture by him supplied in various rooms of the Hotel de Ville during the ball given by the city in the month of February last on the occasion of the marriage of M. le dauphin" (see Guillaume Glorieux, "A l'Enseigne de Gersaint", Champ Vallon 2002).
