| Method | Copper engraving with hand colouring |
| Artist | Antoine Clener |
| Published | A Paris de l'Imprimerie de P. Didot l'Aine MDCCCVIII [1808] |
| Dimensions | Image 180 x 302 mm, Plate 210 x 330 mm, Sheet 550 x 405 mm |
| Notes |
A depiction of a red-figure vase decoration of three youths, one male and two female, Plate 11 from Volume 1 of Peintures de vases antiques, vulgairement appelés étrusques. The central figure, a young male, wears a loose chiton and high-lacing sandals. In his left hand he holds a long spear or staff, and at his back, clasped to his shoulder, is a shield. Behind him, a young woman in a sleeveless dress stands, her eyes downcase. On her head, she wears a diadem and she holds the folds of her garment with both hands. In front of the pair, another woman stands, offering a patera to the youth. Millin, in his commentary, believes this to be a stage of the Greek marriage ceremony, though the names attributed to each figure could equally make this a mythological scene. The youth at the centre is identified as Polites. Behind him the young woman is Phylonoe, and before him is Deinomache. Beyond this their identities are unknown. In the Trojan cycle, Polites could be either one of the sons of Priam, or a companion of Odysseus. If we take this Deinomache to be the Amazon of the same name, then the first attribution is probably the most likely. Peintures de vases antiques, vulgairement appelés étrusques was an early nineteenth century French answer to the hugely popular and influential series of engravings and descriptions of Greek vases assembled by Sir William Hamilton, the British envoy to the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily. Following the withdrawal of the British from Bourbon Naples, in the face of Napoleon and the revolutionary army, the excavations of archaeological sites in the region yielded numerous examples of Greek red-figure vases for French museums, galleries, and private collectors. Authored by Aubin-Louis Millin de Grandmaison, the leading French authority on Greek vases, and featuring illustrations by Antoine Clener, the two-volume publication featured examples of Greek vase painting from the Malmaison, the Musee Napoleon, the Bibliotheques imperial and nationale, and numerous private French collections. In style, it closely resembled the two different editions illustrating Hamilton's vases. The artist Clener had even been the pupil of Hamilton's artist Tischbein during the preparation of plates for his second publication. Akin to this second Hamilton collection, the plates in the Peintures de vases antiques were left uncoloured at publication, ostensibly for the benefit of artists and academics wishing to study the fine details of line and composition, though the publication contained a similar note to connoisseurs that with the assistance of a skilled colourist, the full impact of these masterworks of classical art could be appreciated by the discerning collector. Antoine Clener (fl.1790-1810) was a French engraver, principally known for his plates of Greek vases. As a young man, he worked as a pupil of Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, and it was likely through his master's work on the Hamilton vases that gained him his most notable commission producing copper engraved plates for Millin de Grandmaison's Peintures de vases antiques, vulgairement appelés étrusques. Aubin-Louis Millin de Grandmaison (19th July 1759 – 14th August 1818) was a French author, antiquarian, connoisseur, and natural historian. Having fallen foul of the Jacobins and removed from his editorship of the Chronique de Paris, he was later appointed the chair of archaeology at the Bibliotheque nationale, expanding the institute's holdings of classical and medieval art, and becoming, in the last decades of his life, a specialist on the subject of classical vase painting. In addition to his antiquarian work, he was also a prominent member of the naturalist community, founding the world's first Linnean Society. Condition: Minor time-toning to edges of sheet. Otherwise a strong impression in superb heavy colour. |
| Framing | unmounted |
| Price | £300.00 |
| Stock ID | 43479 |