At the end of 1710, the French draughtsman and printmaker Bernard Picart (1673-1733) moved from Paris to Holland. After a short stay in The Hague he settled in Amsterdam permanently, and turned out to be a sought after, successful printmaker. Apart from a couple of scholars interested in his joint project with the book publisher L. F. Bernard, which is called Cérémonies et coutûmes religieuses de tous les peoples du monde, the research into the work and activities of Picart is limited. His life and work is however relatively well documented by his contemporaries.
The present study is not intended as an complete story about Picart’s life and works, but I present case studies by which I want to demonstrate the multifaceted yet concrete account of the varied visual uses to which printed images were put in his day, as well as the vital role they served in the formation of a set of mental habits and visual skills distinctive of Ancien Régime culture.
In order to properly understand this ambition, it is necessary or even essential to begin with a report about his life. The main source is the ‘Éloge historique’ in the Impostures innocentes published in 1734, a year after Picart’s death. It is supplemented with archival materials, most of which was collected by I.H. van Eeghen in De Amsterdamse boekhandel.[1] The correspondence with Picart’s best friend Prosper Marchand, also provided additional information.[2] But I am most grateful to the late professor doctor Pieter J.R. Modderman (1919-2005) who studied the family’s genealogy (see Appendix 1).[3]
The Impostures innocentes was published by Picart’s widow Anna Vincent, no doubt with the help of the family friend Prosper Marchand (1678-1756).[4] This primary source has proven to be, except for a few small mistakes, reliable. Later biographers mainly depended on the aforementioned ‘Éloge’.[5] It has been suggested that the ‘Éloge historique’ was written by Prosper Marchand, which cannot be proven.[6] But he will certainly have helped Anne with the text and the content. In the collection Marchand there is a letter written to Anne Picart with the text of the ‘Avertissement’.[7] But if Marchand wrote the ‘Éloge historique’ a note would have been left in the collection Marchand.
[i] Van Eeghen 1960-1978. Professor Modderman (1919-2005) has been so kind to send me an account of his genealogical research.
[ii] Marchand bequeathed his collection of books and manuscripts to the Leiden University Library in 1756. See UBL 021. The collection Marchand was made accessible by Christiane Berkvens-Stevelinck 1988.
[iii] Professor Modderman (1919-2005) has been so kind to send me an account of his genealogical research.
[iv] For more information on the publication of the Impostures innocentes see chapter x, pp. x-x.
[v] Chronologically: Fontenai 1761, dl 2, pp. 312-313; Gori Gandellini 1776, dl. 3, pp. 51-56; Füssli 1771, dl. 2, pp. 317-318; Strutt 1785-1786, dl. 2, pp. 225-226; Lacombe 1781, p. 267-268; Huber 1787, pp. 254-255; Basan 1789 (2de editie), dl. 1, pp. 89-92; Huber, Rost 1804, dl. 7, 261-265; Van Eynden, Van der Willigen 1816-1840, dl. 1, pp. 276-280; Joubert père 1821, dl. 2, 350-353; Nagler 1835-1852, dl. 11, pp. 257-265; Immerzeel 1842-1843, dl. 5, 303; De Chennevières, Montaiglon 1851-1860, dl.4, Picart; Van der Aa 1852-1878, dl. 5, pp. 270-271; Le Blanc 1854-1889, dl. 3, p490-496; Kramm 1864, dl. 4, 1277-1278; Portalis 1877, dl. 1, 501-508; Guilard 1880, pp. 118-119; Portalis, Béraldi 1882-1882, dl. 3:1, 302-306; Von Wurzbach 1910-1911, dl. 2, pp. 326-328; Bénézit 1911-1923, dl. 8, p. 296; Kleerkooper, Van Stockum 1914-1916, dl. 1, 560-562; Bryan’s Dictionary 1915, dl. 4, 112-113; Courboin 1924, dl. 2, pp. 43-45; Duportal in: Dimier 1928, dl. 1, pp. 365-398; Thieme, Becker 1907-1950, pp. 572-573; Waller 1938, p. 254; Van Eeghen 1960-1978, dl. 4, pp. 41-45; Turner 1996, dl. x, p.712; Hunt, Jacob, Mijnhart 2010a; Hunt, Jacob Mijnhardt 2010b, pp. 45-89.
[vi] Drury 2019, p. 11, and Berti 2007, Hunt 2015 p.180 and 176.
[vii] Noot met verwijzing naar brief Marchand met Avertissement.
[viii] Van Eeghen 1967, dl. 4, pp. 41-45.
[ix] Professor Modderman (1919-2005) has been so kind to send me an account of his genealogical research.