Scènes de la Vie Intime
Paris: n.p., 1837. Item #06725
The Most Intimate of All Gavarni's Color-Plate Suites
GAVARNI, Paul [pseudonym of Guillaume Sulpice Chevallier]. Scènes de la Vie Intime. [Paris: 1837].
Folio (16 3/8 x 10 1/4 inches; 415 x 260 mm). Twelve superb hand colored lithographs all heightened with gum arabic. The actual plate size is ca. 182 x 144 mm.
Bound ca. 1890 in half tan calf over marbled boards, ruled in blind. Front cover with rectangular maroon leather label bordered and lettered in gilt, decorative endpapers. A fine copy of this great rarity. The colors exceptionally bright and fresh throughout, with the gum arabic heightening still retaining its original gloss and luminosity. Minor signs of handling only, the plates clean and well preserved.
Issued as a suite of twelve lithographs accompanied by a separate 'Titre de la couveture' which is not present (Armelhault & Bocher).
Scènes de la Vie Intime is one of the jewels of Gavarni's printed oeuvre and is certainly one of Gavarni's most appealing and elusive color-plate suites - capturing the wit, elegance, and quiet drama of everyday bourgeois life in Paris. Rather than relying on broad caricature, Gavarni focused on subtle gestures, fashionable costume, and the complexities of domestic relationships, qualities that made him one of the most admired social observers of the July Monarchy. His keen powers of observation, coupled with an effortless draftsmanship, place these scenes among the finest achievements of French lithography of the period.
Excessively rare: OCLC/RLIN record just one example (8 uncolored plates only) in libraries and institutions worldwide: Bibliotheque Nationale de France.
The Plates:
Plate I — Conversation (Causerie)
Plate II — School Friendship (Amitié de Pension)
Plate III — A Nest Among the Wheat (Un Nid dans les Blés)
Plate IV — Distraction
Plate V — The Dark Closet (Le Cabinet Noir)
Plate VI — Prelude
Plate VII — Before the Fall (Avant le Péché)
Plate VIII — After the Fall (Après le Péché)
Plate IX — The Lookout (Le Guet-Apens)
Plate X — Landscape Lesson (Leçon de Paysage)
Plate XI — Arm Above, Arm Below (Bras Dessus, Bras Dessous)
Plate XII — The Painter's Wife (La Femme du Peintre)
Armelhault & Bocher 2002-2013; Bobins II, 527 (this copy).
Price: $12,500.00