Joseph Marie Vien

The etcher and history painter, Joseph Marie Vien, who was taught in Paris by Giral and Natoire, is considered the pioneer of neoclassicism in France. David was later one of his students. In 1743 Vien won the prestigious Prix de Rome and spent the next seven years as a resident of the Eternal City where, in 1748, he witnessed the extremely popular annual carnival procession staged by the pensionnaires of the Académie de France, whose imaginatively dressed participants he immortalised in this wonderfully vibrant series of etchings. The series is of the utmost interest not just in artistic respects, but also in terms of cultural history, since it is a striking illustration of the fashion for turquerie that was enormously popular in 18th century Europe. One can only marvel at the almost endless variety of magnificent luxurious and exotic costumes that Vien has portrayed with great pleasure and meticulous attention to detail in reproducing the exquisite fabrics, textures and bundles of feathers. Among the characters on display are muftis, imams, janissaries, eunuchs, fearsome warriors and sumptuously clad courtiers.

These enchanting Oriental dignitaries are presented in a wide variety of highly expressive poses, their facial features betraying a range of different feelings. In addition to members of the Ottoman court there are ambassadors from Persia, Siam and China, female protagonists such as the Sultana of Transylvania, and black members of the court. Many of these very picturesque figures are portrayed against a southern landscape and architectural backdrop that is rendered with a light touch and great verve, thus producing an effective contrast with the powerful chiaroscuro that gives the main characters an imposing physical presence. The last print in the series shows a ceremonial carriage drawn by four horses that is reminiscent of the carnival float in Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre’s iconic depiction of the Masquerade Chinoise held during the carnival in Rome in 1735 (Baudicour I, 27). 

The series is on offer in the first state that even Baudicour described as “très rare”, before the address of Fessard; the supremely fine, unsurpassed printing quality of the impressions with their full margins suggests they were among the earliest to be pulled; they have been printed with the utmost delicacy and a refined tonal effect. In all probability this is a set that Vien presented to Louis-Jules Mancini-Mazarini, Duc de Nivernois (1716–1798), who in 1748 was sent to Rome as the French ambassador to the Holy See. Of the utmost rarity in this printing quality and extraordinary state of preservation.

34.000 €