Jean-Jacques de Boissieu

Study of Six Heads - Etching by J.-J. Boissieu

Second Half of 18th Century

Study of Five Heads is a beautiful black and white etching with drypoint interventions on paper, realized at the end of XVIII century by the French artist Jean-Jacques de Boissieu (Lyon, 1736- 1810). Five study of heads of which two profiles (a female and a male) are lightly sketched with the drypoint technique, and we could appreciate the incredible draftsmanship. Instead, the bigger three portraits are very detailed and etched with a superb technique. Although the subjects are drawn in different scales and with different degrees of finish, each portrait has the dignity of a unique piece and the composition is very balanced. In particular on the lower margin at the center there is the portrait of "Le Père Cotrot, Garçon Teinturier à Lyon'", an elderly man, toothless and with a large-nosed, slightly turned to left, with a hat and unbuttoned jacket over waistcoat, shows all his wrinkles in a very realistic way. Signed on plate on lower right margin “De Boissieu”. This old master’s original print with fresh impressions, is in very good conditions, except for a usual yellowing of the paper above all on the edges and some signs of the time and light foxing along the margins, do not affect the image. Jean-Jacques de Boissieu (Lyon,1736 –1810) Jean-Jacques de Boissieu was a French artist studied at the École de Dessin in Lyon, but he was mostly self-taught. His first prints were realized between 1758–64. When he went to Italy in the retinue of the ambassador and Duc de la Rochefoucauld d’Enville, he had the lifechanging encounter: he met Voltaire and he entered in the world of luminaries, he had the opportunity of realizing some plates for the Diderot-d’Alembert’s Encyclopèdie. Then he continued to produce prints in Lyon, Boissieu made many etchings of the Roman and Dutch countryside, as well as the French countryside around Lyon, which earned him a reputation as the last representative of the older etching...

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