Moreau

Moreau by Frederick Wedmore (1899)

Moreau le Jeune earned his place among the French artists who recorded the lighter manners of the Eighteenth Century, working at this for half his life between his birth in March 1741 and his death in November 1814. A Parisian wigmaker's son from the parish of St. Sulpice, he entered the circle of art early alongside his brother, Moreau l'Aîné. He studied under Louis de Lorrain, following him to St. Petersburg at seventeen, then returned to Paris to work under the engraver Le Bas, mastering the burin. His draughtsmanship developed slowly until it suddenly declared itself in the ‘Plaine des Sablons,' a drawing of a review by Louis XV commissioned by Le Bas, which revealed him as a gifted recorder of festivals and ceremonies. In 1770 he was named ‘Dessinateur des Menus-plaisirs,' and in 1775, succeeding Cochin, ‘Dessinateur du Cabinet du Roi,' positions that freed him to pursue his own inventions as well as official work. Among his celebrated records of public functions are the Fêtes at Versailles for the marriage of the Dauphin and Marie Antoinette, the Crowning of Voltaire at the Théâtre Français in 1788, and the Fêtes at the Hôtel de Ville for the birth of a new Dauphin to Louis XVI. The Crowning of Voltaire, engraved by Gaucher, commemorated the sixteenth performance of Voltaire's Irène, showing the poet's bust garlanded onstage while Voltaire himself watched from a box with Madame Denis and the Marquise de Villette, amid a packed, enthusiastic house. His most significant achievement was the ‘Suite d'Estampes pour servir à l'histoire des Mœurs et du Costume dans le Dix-huitième Siècle,' begun in 1775 by Prault, intended to depict fashionable manners, dress, and furniture. Freudeberg, a Bernese artist, drew the first series before returning home, after which Moreau completed the second series (concerning a lady's fortunes) and third (concerning a grand seigneur). Restif de la Bretonne later supplied inventive commentary for the plates, isolating each one with its own story, including those for ‘La Grande Toilette,' ‘La Petite Loge,' ‘Sortie de l'Opéra,' and ‘C'est un fils, Monsieur!' Moreau also illustrated literary works, most devotedly Rousseau's Nouvelle Héloïse, understanding the sentiment of Julie and Saint-Preux, and later etched Rousseau's grave at the Ile des Peupliers. A journey to Italy in 1786 with the architect Dumont, and his association with the painter David, altered his style, drawing him from the natural grace of his earlier manner toward more official and historical subjects, as seen in ‘Tullie faisant passer son char sur le corps de son père,' the drawing that secured his election to the Academy in 1791, sponsored by the engraver Wille. In his later years Moreau's originality declined, and poverty overtook him; in February 1814 he wrote to Renouard that he was penniless. Louis XVIII reappointed him draughtsman to the King, but he held the post only briefly before dying on 30 November 1814.

By Frederick Wedmore · First published 1899 · Genre: Biography, Art History, Art Criticism · 3,499 words

First lines

One of the prettiest chapters of the volume in which French artists of the Eighteenth Century have recorded with grace and freedom the lighter manners of their age, is that certainly which was written by Moreau le Jeune. He employed, with extreme diligence, half a life in writing it. Born in March 1741, he died in November 1814. The son of a Parisian wigmaker, of the parish of St. Sulpice -- which was also Chardin's -- he, with his brother, Moreau l'Aîné, a painter not greatly known, was drawn early into the circle of the producers of Art. He was a pupil of Louis de Lorrain, a now forgotten painter, whom he followed, at seventeen years old, to St. Petersburg. Coming back to Paris, he was in the workroom of Le Bas, the engraver, and there he learned the secret of the burin's expression. He engraved with delicate skill. It was but slowly, however, that in his own designs he showed himself an accomplished draughtsman; for though his daughter, Madame Carle Vernet -- who wrote an account of him -- lets us understand that he was born drawing, there is much of his early work that is obviously laboured. Suddenly, the De Goncourts tell us -- those critics who, with M. Maherault, the industrious collector, have studied him the best -- suddenly his power of draughtsmanship declared itself -- the individuality of his vision and method. It was in a drawing commissioned by Le Bas, who sought to engrave it, the ‘Plaine des Sablons' -- a review by Louis XV. In it he was revealed as the successful draughtsman of festivals, the historian of lively ceremonies. And such success was rewarded.

Similar titles

Genres

Tags

18th-century French art · engraving and etching · drawing and draughtsmanship · fashion and costume · court life and society · Parisian culture · theatrical performance · Voltaire · Rousseau · art history and criticism · artistic development · artistic decline

What this Textopian page supports

Moreau is listed on Textopian as an essay by Frederick Wedmore, dated 1899 CE.

This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.

Good citation fit

More by Frederick Wedmore