The Printed Book: Its History, Illustration and Adornment: From the Days of Gutenberg to the Present TimeBouchot, Henri
History
The Printed Book: Its History, Illustration and Adornment: From the Days of Gutenberg to the Present Time
Bouchot, Henri
Bookbinding -- History; Books; Books -- History; Illustration of books; Printing -- History
Under Henri IV. and the minority of Louis XIII., two French illustrators
received from the school of Antwerp their inspiration for the ornament
of the Book. Thomas de Leu, probably from Flanders, was allied with the
old Parisian painter and engraver of celebrated portraits, Antoine
Caron, in furnishing the engraved plates for the _Images de Plate
Peinture des Deux Philostrates, Sophistes Grecs_, Paris, Claude
Cramoisy, 1609, folio; and Leonard Gaultier, his contemporary,
collaborated with Jaspar Isaac and other artists in the Book. Leonard
Gaultier contributed most to spread in France the Plantinian style, and
his somewhat cold but characteristic talent suited this art more than
that of any one else then could. He was an engraver of portraits, now
rare and valuable, in the style of Wierix or Thomas de Leu; but, at the
demand of publishers and booksellers, he composed other plates, at first
historical figures representing the royal family and the nobles for the
publisher Leclerc, in a simple and true manner; he also designed pious
figures, recording a miracle or representing the ceremonies of a jubilee
and other devotional things. But he made his great success in the
composition of frontispieces to theological and pious works, printed for
nearly all the booksellers. Leonard Gaultier had a fashion of his own
with pilasters and Grecian columns, under which he boldly placed entire
councils of cardinals and bishops; witness the heading of the
_Bibliotheca Veterum Patrum_, into which he crowded nearly forty
figures. He united also with a certain grace the sacred and the profane,
placing among ideal saints the sinning fine ladies of the time, with
their large collarettes and jewels falling on naked breasts. The work of
Andrew Valladier, chaplain of the King, entitled _Métanéalogie Sacrée_,
published by Peter Chevallier in 1609, was adorned with a title of this
particular kind, in which Gaultier had no rival, and which preserves the
precision of Flemish masters in the detail of ornaments of the toilet.
He was one of the first to work for Sebastian Cramoisy, printer and
publisher, who had established his shop in the Rue St. Jacques at the
sign of the "Stork." We shall have occasion to speak of him later in
connection with the Royal Printing House, of which he was the first
director; he is mentioned now because in 1611 Leonard Gaultier engraved
for him the frontispiece of _L'Aigle Français_, a collection of sermons
by Thomas Girault. The publisher used the same plate in 1618 for the
sermons of Raymond de Hézèque.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account