Portland Public Library

Renaissance to revolution, French drawings from the National Gallery of Art, 1500-1800, [edited by] Margaret Morgan Grasselli

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

federal national government publication

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Renaissance to revolution

bibliographycatalogs

327641474

[edited by] Margaret Morgan Grasselli

French drawings from the National Gallery of Art, 1500-1800

The National Gallery of Art is known for its collection of French old master drawings, representing the history of French draftsmanship before 1800. This book presents a selection of the Gallery's most significant, beautiful, and representative drawings from three centuries, offering a visual exploration of the development of graphic art in France, from its first flowering during the Renaissance through to its neoclassical incarnation during the political and social upheavals of the French Revolution. The earliest work in the book is a rare landscape watercolor dating from about 1500 by the miniaturist Jean Poyet, who worked for Queen Anne de Bretagne; one of the last is a neoclassical portrait from 1795 by Jacques-Louis David, who was an intimate participant in the Revolution. This book encompasses all the major stylistic trends, from the affectations of the school of Fontainebleau in the sixteenth century, through the grand manner under Louis XIV, to the frothy effervescence of the eighteenth-century rococo, and finally, the return to sober classical ideals in the late 1700s. This book also covers a range of genres, including book illustrations, compositions, landscapes, portraits, architectural studies and capriccios, and figure drawings

Stories of a Collection / Margaret Morgan Grasselli -- Notes to the Reader -- Catalogue