Lot n° 289
Estimation :
1000 - 1500
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PINGRET (Édouard Henri Théophile) - Lot 289
PINGRET (Édouard Henri Théophile)
Costumes of the Pyrenees, drawn from life & lithographed. Paris, Gihaut Frères, n.d. (1834).
In-4: 1 leaf (title page), 40 lithographed plates, hand-colored and gummed at the time of publication. Slightly cream-colored paper.
½ brown chagrin binding of the period, smooth spine lightened and richly decorated with rocaille-style gilt metalwork, gilt title on the upper cover; restorations (the plates are loose, arranged in a modern flap pocket).
All 40 plates are present. There were several printings from the same period; some plates show variations. Some are titled in the name of Dero Becker (dated 1834), or, as here, by Gihaut frères, undated. Often, there is not even a title. But what matters is the notation at the bottom of the plates. The oldest ones appear to be those bearing the notation “litho Benard” (here, plates 4, 21–40), with no mention of a publisher, as well as those bearing no mention of a lithographer or printer (plates 1–3, 4–19). This is the case for most of the plates in our copy. There are also plates lithographed by Benard (with Gihaut frères listed as publishers), which may be slightly later; this is not the case here, despite the title! Benard later partnered with Lemercier. A few rare plates bear both their names; later, only Lemercier’s name remains, still published by Gihaut frères. A third lithographer, Thierry in Paris (successor to Engelmann), signed at least five plates (3, 14, 18, 19. Here it is No. 20), but certainly more, without a publisher’s name. Finally, printed by Auguste Bry of Paris (Dufour, publisher in Tarbes), a new version was published with the title: “Costumes of the Pyrenees drawn from life & lithographed. Tarbes, Pau, Dufour; Paris, printed by Aug. Bry, n.d." COLAS notes: "A Lemallier catalog (1913) lists 10 quarto plates published in Tarbes (by Dufour in 1860)." According to Lacaze, J. M. Dufour settled in Pau on January 3, 1855, and sold his shop to Jean Dufour in 1864. However, the plates do not bear the name Pau but only that of Tarbes. It remains to be determined when Dufour began working in Tarbes. Finally, it should be noted that the variant depicting “trout fishermen in Saint-Sauveur” (wearing berets rather than caps) was published by Cazaux frères in Tarbes.
Édouard PINGRET (1788–1875) was born and died in Saint-Quentin in the Aisne department. A reporter and illustrator, he first published an album on his region in 1821, followed by pictorial accounts of his travels in Switzerland in 1824 (views and costumes published separately) and 1827, the Duchy of Baden (costumes) in 1828, followed by the Pyrenees (costumes) in 1834, and finally views of Maisons-Laffitte in 1838. As a painter, he studied under David, and his genre scenes featuring figures against a landscape background reflect the influence of this neoclassical school. However, he was also receptive to the “new explorations of color and light by the young Romantics.” Also a history painter, he was the only artist authorized to accompany Louis-Philippe on his visit to Queen Victoria in 1843.
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