GUANGZHOU CANTON TRIUMPHAL ARC CHINA 1760ca DE BEAUVAIS ANTIQUE OPTICAL VIEW

Vie d'Optique d'Un ARc de triomphe tres élevé, an la Ville de Canton en la Chine.
 

Description: Striking and highly detailed fine unusual 1760 approx. copper engraved so-called optical view of a monumental Chinese-style triumphal arch (a paifang) located in a square in Canton (Guangzhou), animated by figures in traditional dress and framed by stylized mountains and trees.
 
Chinoiserie Aesthetic: The depiction blends real architectural elements with the imaginative flair typical of European chinoiserie of the time, influenced by the travel accounts of missionaries and the East India Company.

The Vues d'optique were specifically developed to provide the illusion of depth when viewed through a zograscope, also known as an "optical diagonal machine" or viewers with similar functions.

Date: 1760 approx. ( undated )

Dimension: Paper size approx.: cm 42,2 x 30,3

Condition: Very strong and dark impression on goos paper. Paper with chains. on the verso. Plate old original colored. Corners partially missing. Small foxing and browning. Small tears. Conditions are as you can see in the images.

Publisher: Nicolas-Dauphin de Beauvais (1688-1763) was a French engraver, publisher and art dealer.
 
Nicolas-Dauphin de Beauvais is said to have been born in Paris around 1687, modern bibliographical sources drawing on the entry in Watelet (1792); the bibliographer Charles Weiss places his birth in 1678. Elsewhere, he is supposed to be the son of Girard Beauvais, a fan maker in 1698 in the Saint-Michel district. In fact, Nicolas-Dauphin de Beauvais was born on June 7, 1688, in Paris and was baptized on the 10th at Saint-Jacques-du-Haut-Pas, "son of Dauphin de Beauvais, baker, and Jeanne Dubois, his wife." He was a pupil of Jean Audran. Around 1720, he was in London to engrave, in partnership with Nicolas Dorigny and Claude Dubosc, the cartoons of Raphael, but this venture ended in commercial failure. Beauvais quickly returned to Paris, but remained in contact with Dorigny to interpret a series of drawings depicting prominent English figures, around 1736-1737.
 
In 1729, he produced an interpretation of Benedetto Luti's Saint Mary Magdalene Penitent for the Crozat Collection.
 
He became a collaborator of Gaspard Duchange, whose daughter Catherine he married. Three sons were born of this union: Simon Dauphin de Beauvais (1725-1794), a painter; Charles-Nicolas-Dauphin de Beauvais (1730-1785), an engraver; and Jacques-Philippe Beauvais, a sculptor.
 
Duchange had opened a shop on Rue Saint-Jacques, publishing and selling prints. It is possible that his son-in-law inherited this shop and trained his son, who then assisted him in his work and expanded his father's business. An important engraver, printer, and bookseller named Beauvais was located on the same street, under the sign of Saint-Nicolas. He published optical views there from 1750 onward.
 
Nicolas-Dauphin de Beauvais died in Paris on January 13, 1763.
 
He was engraver to the king and a member of the Academy of Saint Luke. He engraved exclusively after the great masters.