LOUANDRE, Charles (1812-1882)

Les Arts Somptuaires: Histoire du Costume et de l'Ameublement et des Arts et Industries qui s'y Rattachent

Paris: Hangard-Maugé, 1852-1858. 4 volumes. 4to. (10 1/2 x 8 3/8 inches). [Text Volumes] Vol. I: [vi], 344 pp., chromolithographed frontispiece Vol. II: [ii], 280 pp., chromolithographed frontispiece. [Plate Volumes] Vol. I: [ii], 16 pp. with 159 chromolithographs. Vol. II: [ii] pp. with 163 chromolithographs. Total 324 chromolithographed plates.

Contemporary half red morocco and red cloth boards, spines with raised bands forming six compartments, tooled and lettered gilt, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt

A fine copy of the first edition of one of the most ambitious and sumptuously produced French illustrated books of the 19th century, representing a landmark in both the art of chromolithography and the historiography of the Decorative Arts.

Les Arts Somptuaires was initiated under the direction of Ferdinand Séré and later continued by the Parisian publisher Hangard-Maugé, who oversaw its completion. The project was conceived as a comprehensive visual record of costume, armour, interior design, and related material culture, from the medieval period through the Renaissance and Baroque, and based on objects held in national collections such as the Louvre and the Musée de Cluny. The explanatory text by Charles Louandre is richly informed and provides both historical and iconographic commentary. The plates, produced by many leading lithographers and artists, including Émile Beau, Franz Kellerhoven, Hippolyte Moulin, and both Auguste and Albert Racinetare, are exceptional for their breadth of style and chromatic sophistication. Many of the drawings were done by Séré himself, who was known for his exacting graphic standards. As Michael Twyman notes, the chromolithographs in the present work show a wide range of effects, the best of them doing so successfully. In particular, the use of coated paper enabled the inks to achieve an exceptional brilliance and clarity, so much so that an international jury at the 1855 Exposition Universelle praised the prints in Hangard-Maugé's first volume as having surpassed in fineness all previous work. Costumes form the visual centerpiece of the project, but the volumes also cover ornament, ecclesiastical furniture, weapons, textiles, illuminated manuscripts, and more.

Colas 705; Lipperheide, Sg 2; Hiler & Meyer, Bibliography of Costume, p. 549; Twyman, A History of Chromolithography, p. 158.

Item #42248

Price: $1,000.00