print
- Museum number
- 2006,0530.13.1
- Title
-
Series: Pourtraictz de plusieurs hommes illustres qui ont flory en France
-
Series: Chronologie collée
- Description
-
Left half of a two sheet print, which together have 144 small portraits of famous Frenchmen of the XVIc, arranged in eight rows with eighteen heads per row, each with his name beneath. c.1600
Engraving
- Production date
- 1580-1600
- Dimensions
-
Height: 366 millimetres
-
Width: 239 millimetres (image area)
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- A pair with 2006,0530.13(2), which together form the whole composition.
"Pourtraictz de plusieurs hommes illustres qui ont flory en France depuis lan 1500 jusques a present", is a series of 144 portaits engraved by Gaultier (for a list of the portraits see Firmin-Didot vol. I p.270-273).
The heads are arranged in rows across both plates. The order is military, clerical, political/administrative, intellectuals of various kinds. It is notable that the last class forms nearly half the total.
The genre of the print is that of the 'Chronologie collée', a type of publication apparently unique to France at this period. The heads were accompanied by separate sheets of letterpress (which gave the name of the publisher) with elaborations on the deeds and characters of each man. Both sheets were intended to be cut up by the purchaser, and the texts mounted into blank albums to form illustrated books. This may have been a device to get round the censorship on printed books or on the prohibition on those who were not libraires from entering the business.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 2006
- Acquisition notes
- From A&D Martinez Catalogue XI (2006), no.291
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 2006,0530.13.1
