Figures pour les œuvres de Voltaire par Moreau, 1801-1805

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Summary

Title:
Figures pour les œuvres de Voltaire par Moreau
Dates:
1801-1805
Creators:
Moreau, Jean Michel, 1741-1814, Blot, Maurice, 1753-1818, Coiny, Jacques Joseph, 1761-1809, Croutelle, Louis, 1765?-1829, Delvaux, Remi-Henri-Joseph, 1748-1823, Ghendt, Emmanuel Jean Nepomucène de, 1738-1815, Godefroy, Jean, 1771-1839, Halbou, Louis Michel, 1730-approximately 1809, Ingouf, François Robert, 1747-1812, Massard, R. U. (Raphael Urbain), 1775-1843, Nicollet, Bernard-Antoine, 1740-1807, Petit, Louis, 1760-approximately 1812, Ribault, Jean François, 1767-1820, Roger, Barthélemy Joseph Fulcran, 1767-1841, Romanet, Antoine Louis, 1742-approximately 1810, Simonet, Jean-Baptiste Blaise, 1742-approximately 1813, Trière, Philippe, 1756-approximately 1815, Villerey, Antoine Claude François, 1754-1828, Voltaire, 1694-1778, LeClerc, Paul, 1941-, LeClerc, Paul, 1941-, and Renouard, Ant. Aug. (Antoine Augustin), 1765-1853
Abstract:
The volume contains 112 prints based on drawings by Jean-Michel Moreau le Jeune. These prints depict scenes from Voltaire's theatrical works, poems, and prose writings. The dates on the prints range from 1801 to 1805, indicating that they were initiated by Moreau after the Kehl set that he directed between 1782 and 1789. These later prints were made by 18 different French printmakers, including Jean-Baptiste Simonet and Rémi-Henri-Joseph Delvaux. Seventeen prints in the volume are accompanied by proofs, each enclosed either as a loose leaf or attached facing the later state of the etching. Several prints in the volume bear the imprint of the publisher, Antoine-Augustin Renouard (1765-1853).
Extent:
1 volume (112 prints and 17 loose or attached proofs)
Language:
Collection material is in French.
Preferred citation:

Figures pour les œuvres de Voltaire par Moreau, 1801-1805, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2024.PR.35.

http://hdl.handle.net/10020/archives2024pr35

Background

Scope and content:

The volume contains 112 prints made from drawings by Jean-Michel Moreau le Jeune showing scenes from Voltaire's plays, poems, historical writings, and philosophical stories.

In this volume, Jean-Baptiste Simonet and Rémi-Henri-Joseph Delvaux are the most represented printmakers. The volume also contains prints by Emmanuel de Ghendt, Philippe Trière, Nicolas Thomas, Barthélemy Roger, and Bernard-Antoine Nicollet. One print is signed by Moreau both as printmaker and draftsman. Many of the prints are dated using the French Revolutionary calendar (Years X-XIII of the Republic).

The volume features illustrations from a wide range of Voltaire's works, encompassing plays such as Œdipe, Mariamne, Brutus, and Zaïre; comic plays including L'indiscret, L'enfant prodigue, and La prude; poems like Henri (also known as La Henriade) and La pucelle d'Orléans; historical works including Le siècle de Louis XIV, Le siècle de Louis XV, and Histoire de Charles XII; as well as stories and tales such as Zadig, Candide, and L'ingénu.

Seventeen prints in the volume are accompanied by proofs, each enclosed either as a loose leaf or attached facing the later state of the etching. The proofs are bound in the volume with their recto and verso reversed. Several prints in the volume bear the imprint of the publisher, Antoine-Augustin Renouard (1765-1853).

Biographical / historical:

Jean-Michel Moreau (1741-1814), known as Moreau le Jeune, was a French illustrator and printmaker of the late eighteenth century. Born in Paris, he trained under Louis-Joseph Le Lorrain and the printmaker Jacques-Philippe Lebas before being appointed Designer of the Royal Cabinet (Dessinateur des Menus-Plaisirs du Roi) in 1770 and Royal Draftsman (Dessinateur du Cabinet du Roi) in 1781.

Moreau's illustrations for Voltaire's works, created between 1782 and 1789, represent one of his most significant achievements. This extensive project encompassed drawings for Voltaire's complete works, from theatrical pieces like Œdipe (1718) and Zaïre (1732) to philosophical tales such as Candide (1759) and historical works including Le siècle de Louis XIV (1751). Later, he initiated another set of prints after the works of Voltaire, with dates spanning from 1801 to 1805.

Following his visit to Italy in 1785, Moreau's style evolved from Rococo to Neoclassicism. Despite the effect that the political upheavals of the French Revolution had on his career, he remained active in book illustration until his death in Paris in 1814. His detailed representations of eighteenth-century French society, particularly through his work on Voltaire's texts, provide documentation of pre-revolutionary France and the early years of the nineteenth century.

Sources consulted:

Bocher, Emmanuel. Les gravures françaises du XVIIIe siècle ou Catalogue raisonné des estampes, vignettes, eaux-fortes, pièces en couleur au bistre et au lavis, de 1700 à 1800. Sixth fascicle : Jean-Michel Moreau le Jeune. Paris : Damascène Morgand et Charles Fatout, 1882.

Gil, Linda. L'édition Kehl. Une aventure éditoriale et littéraire au tournant des Lumières. Paris : Honoré Champion, 2018.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Paul LeClerc in honor of Maria Hummer Tuttle. Acquired in 2024.
Custodial history:

The volume of prints was acquired from Paul LeClerc, who wrote a dissertation on Voltaire at Columbia University in 1969. LeClerc has published or co-published five volumes with the Voltaire Foundation of Oxford University, and continues his research on Voltaire manuscripts at the New York Public Library and Butler Library.

Inside the front cover is the Russian ex libris of F.F. Shubert or Schubert with the motto "Quo fas et gloria ducunt."

Processing information:

Cataloged by Ouijdane Hachimi, under the supervision of Karen Meyer-Roux, 2025.

The titles are derived from abbreviated captions on the plates.

Physical location:
Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the catalog record for this collection. Click here for the access policy.
Rules or conventions:
graphic materials

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Ouijdane Hachimi
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2025-06-11 07:27:03 -0700 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers.

Terms of access:

Contact Library Reproductions and Permissions.

Preferred citation:

Figures pour les œuvres de Voltaire par Moreau, 1801-1805, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2024.PR.35.

http://hdl.handle.net/10020/archives2024pr35

Location of this collection:
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, CA 90049-1688, US
Contact:
(310) 440-7390
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