LE BOURGEOIS GENTILHOMME.

Artist: C.R. Leslie ____________ Engraver: C. Sharpe

 

Note: the title in the table above is printed below the engraving

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PRINT DATE: This lithograph was printed in 1864; it is not a modern reproduction in any way.

PRINT SIZE: Overall print size is 8 1/2 inches by 11 1/2 inches including white borders, actual scene is 7 1/2 inches by 9 1/2 inches.

PRINT CONDITION: Condition is excellent. Bright and clean. Blank on reverse. Paper is quality woven rag stock paper.

SHIPPING: Buyer to pay shipping, domestic orders receives priority mail, international orders receive regular air mail unless otherwise asked for.  We take a variety of payment options, more payment details will be in our email after auction close.

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FROM THE ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION: Moliere, as a dramatist, holds a high rank in France. His comedies have maintained their popularity, during a', period of pearly two centuries, even when the regular drama has declined in Paris, as .it has in our own country. The writings of Eacine, who, perhaps, stands at the heart of the French tragic authors, have scarcely been, so successful, not on account of any inferiority, bue eca'llse the taste of the people has altered, and tragedy there, as with us, finds comparatively few admirers. Neither ' Racine nor Moliere, however, are entitled to the same homage that is paid to Shakspeare: neither, so' completely sounded the depths of. the human heart, though the one satirized, its frivolities, 'and the other exposed to view its evil. passions, Two of the most popular comedies written by Moliere, are "Le Bourgeois 'Gentilhomme" and "Le Malade Imaginaire;" both of-them have repeatedly furnished subjects for the artists of our school, for they are full of the richest humour, though his scenes are often, as in his other, writings, improbable. The former of these plays has been described as a farce of the most extravagant kind, and-being, as -it is called, a comedic-ballet, the author has allowed it at the close to run almost into a pantomime. In spite of its extravagance, however, "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme " is a great favorite, and allusions are more frequently made to it than to any other play of Moliere's. The pompous ignorance of the principal character, and the pretensions of his several fashionable masters, are extremely laughable; but so far as construction goes, it is a mere succession of farcical incidents.

Next in popularity to these dramas-some writers give them precedence for truthfulness of character-are " Le Mcdecin malgre lui," of which Fielding wrote a version under the title of "The Mock Doctor;" " Le Misanthrope ;" " L'Avare," also reproduced in English by Fielding, with the title of " The Miser ;" and " Le Tartuffe," which gave rise to " The Hypocrite," so well known of late years on our own stage. Since the introduction of French performances into the metropolis, most of Moliere's comedies .have been exhibited to a British audience in their original tongue.

'The scene from "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme," represented by Leslie in this picture, appears in the third act of the comedy. It illustrates the following passage:- M. Jourdain. Tout bean. HolA! oh! Doncement Diantre soit la coqnino! Nicole. Voua me dites de pouaser. HI. Jourdain. Oui ; maig tu me poussea en tierce, ayant que de pousser en quarte, et tun'as pas la patience qne je pare. The great merit of the 'picture is the exceeding humor thrown into the composition: the attitude of the old beau, and the expression of his face, are admirable. His antagonist, the pretty housemaid, whom he has challenged to a bout with the foils, is evidently a mistress of fence, though she may have transgressed the laws of the science: the head and bust of the girl are beautifully drawn, and her pose is altogether inimitable. The face of M. Jourdain bears a strong resemblance to that of Uncle Toby in Leslie's well- known picture of this worthy and the widow Wadham. Bannister, the celebrated comic actor, was the model of the former, and, in all probability, was in the mind of the artist when he sketched M. Jourdain.

The weak point of the picture is its colour; in this quality it is both peculiar and thin, and presents contrasts destructive of all harmony. When the picture was exhibited at the Royal Academy, in 1841, it drew forth from us the following remark among others: - " Mr. Leslie's views of life are so shrewd, and his perception I and portraying of character so strong, that he is borne safely through peculiarities of colour which would seriously injure a lesser man."

 

BIOGRAPHY OF ARTIST: Charles Robert Leslie (b Clerkenwell, London, 19 Oct 1794; d London, 5 May 1859). English painter and writer. The son of Robert Leslie, an American of Scottish descent who worked in London (1793-9), he received his earliest artistic training in Philadelphia, PA. At first he was self-taught, but in the course of a seven-year apprenticeship to the publishers Bradford & Inskeep (1808-15) he decided to become a professional artist. In March 1811 he achieved fame with a small sketch of the visiting English actor George Frederick Cooke as Shakespeare's character King Richard III. His talent was further recognized that year when the Pennsylvanian Academy of Fine Arts raised £100 to pay for him to study in Europe for two years. Leslie arrived in London in December 1811 with a letter of introduction to Benjamin West and immediately entered the circle of American history painters around West that included Washington Allston, Charles Bird King and Samuel F. B. Morse. From Allston in particular he learnt the colouristic and painterly skills that distinguish his mature work. These practical lessons complemented his studies at the Royal Academy Schools in London, which he entered in March 1813. For the next five years he worked as a history painter while painting portraits for a living. His best portraits from this period are those of John Quincy Adams and of his wife Louisa Johnson Adams (both 1816; Washington, DC, State Dept, see 1980 exh. cat., figs 135, 136), though ultimately the pose of the sitters and the warmth of the palette derive from Thomas Lawrence.

Please note: the terms used in our auctions for engraving, etching, lithograph, plate, photogravure etc. are ALL prints on paper, and NOT blocks of steel or wood or any other material. "ENGRAVINGS", the term commonly used for these paper prints, were the most common method in the 1700s and 1800s for illustrating old books, and these paper prints or "engravings" were created by the intaglio process of etching the negative of the image into a block of steel, copper, wood etc, and then when inked and pressed onto paper, a print image was created. These prints or engravings were usually inserted into books, although many were also printed and issued as loose stand alone lithographs. They often had a tissue guard or onion skin frontis to protect them from transferring their ink to the opposite page and were usually on much thicker quality woven rag stock paper than the regular prints. So this auction is for an antique paper print(s), probably from an old book, of very high quality and usually on very thick rag stock paper.

A RARE FIND! AND GREAT DECORATION FOR YOUR OFFICE OR HOME WALL.