95 - Jean-Baptiste Isabey (1767–1855) (after)

Jean-Baptiste Isabey (1767–1855) (after) Portrait of the painter Hubert Robert. 1798–1799. Engraved by Simon Charles Miger. 260 x 365 [290 x 405 mm]. Portalis and Beraldi 51. A very fine state of print on laid paper, prior to the letter, with only the artists’ names engraved. A few large, light foxing spots. Old annotation in pen and sepia ink at the bottom: “Mr. Robert Peintre.” Good margins. AABM stamp (Lugt 3075). Isabey’s original black-chalk drawing is housed at the National Gallery of Art in Washington (inv. 2000.176.1). The Minneapolis Institute of Arts holds a replica, now considered to be copied from the engraving. At least five contemporary versions of this drawing are known to exist. The young Isabey and Robert were friends, despite their thirty-four-year age difference. They had met in Versailles in 1787. Isabey worked under his elder at the Château de Beauregard. They became neighbors around the time this portrait was painted, as Isabey had secured lodgings at the Louvre, likely sometime in 1799. Isabey’s diary clearly attests to the admiration he felt for the older artist.