102 - Vivant Denon (Dominique-Vivant, Baron Denon, known as) (1747–1825)

Vivant Denon (Dominique-Vivant, Baron Denon, known as) (1747–1825) Λιθογράφος [Lithographos]. (Self-portrait). Circa 1820. Lithograph. 205 x 170 [269 x 364 mm]. I.F.F. not cataloged; Illustrated Bartsch not cataloged. Very fine proof on white vellum, printed on the reverse side of a fragment of a lithograph by Mlle Bouteiller (I.F.F. 2). A light foxing stain at the top. Small tear in the lower right corner. Very slight oxidation along the edges of the sheet. Full margins. AABM stamp (Lugt 3075). An entire catalog by Arsène Bonafous-Murat was devoted to Vivant Denon as a lithographer (L'Art de la lithographie: œuvres d'art et produits de l'industrie, II, 1999), a subject that was still unexplored at the time. The lithographic plate on the reverse, created by Mademoiselle Bouteiller, was intended for the work that appeared four years after Vivant Denon’s death, *Monuments of the Arts of Drawing Among Ancient and Modern Peoples, Collected to Serve the History of the Arts and Lithographed by Him and Under His Supervision, Described and Explained by Amaury Duval*, Paris, Brunet-Denon, printed by Firmin Didot, 1829. It constitutes a sumptuous illustrated catalog of Vivant Denon’s personal collection and contains 314 plates lithographed by Boilly, Bouillon, Franquinet, and others, some in various colors or engraved in intaglio by Vivant Denon himself. Only 250 copies were printed.