Jennifer Tonkovich – författare

Jean de Jullienne (1686–1766) was one of the leading French amateurs and collectors of the eighteenth century. He played an important role as editor and dealer, most famously of Watteau’s œuvre, and held an influential position in the French art administration of his time, as director of the Gobelins factory until 1729. Jullienne’s collection epitomizes the most advanced taste of Parisian private collectors of the period. His strong interest in contemporary French art, Netherlandish painting, in sketches, pastels and drawings were all typical or even trendsetting for a new generation of rich Parisian collectors with only loose ties to the French court. The two sales of his collection were major events for the European art market. The watercolor views of his collection in the inventory from 1756, a unique document for the period, are here published in their entirety for the first time. This exhibition catalog will present masterworks from Jullienne’s collection, including Rubens, Rembrandt, Watteau, Wouwermans, Netscher, Bourdon, Vanloo, Greuze and Vernet. These are drawn from the Wallace Collection as well as museums in London, Edinburgh, Valenciennes, Berlin and from several important British private collections.

This scholarly publication presents the work of the designer, painter and illustrator Claude Gillot (1673–1722). The first volume on the artist in English, it accompanies a major exhibition at the Morgan Library& Museum that explores Gillot’s inventive and highly original draftsmanship and places his work in the context of artistic and intellectual activity in Paris ca. 1700.The history of eighteenth-century French art under the ancien régime is dominated by great names. But the artistic scene in Paris at the dawn of the century was diverse and included artists who forged careers largely outside of the Royal Academy. Among them was Claude Gillot. Known primarily as a draftsman, Gillot specialized in witty scenes taken from the Italian commedia dell’arte plays performed at fairground theaters and vignettes of satyrs enacting rituals that expose human folly. The book will address Gillot’s work as a designer, painter, and book illustrator, and advance a chronology for his career. Crafting a timeline for Gillot’s life and work will clarify his relationship with his younger collaborators Antoine Watteau and Nicolas Lancret.Through an artistic biography and six chapters, each devoted to an aspect of his oeuvre, Gillot’s role in developing quintessential rococo subjects is established. We follow Gillot from his start as the son of a decorative painter in the bishopric of Langres to his arrival in Paris in the 1690s, as the city and its secular entertainments flourished apart from the royal court at Versailles. Myriad opportunities awaited artists outside official channels, and Gillot built his career working in the theater and as a painter and designer long before seeking official academic status. His involvement with writers, playwrights, and printmakers helped define his sphere. Gillot’s preference for theatrical subjects brought him critical attention, and also attracted talented assistants such as Watteau and Lancret. Gillot came to prominence around 1712 working at the Paris Opéra and as a printmaker and illustrator of books, lending his droll humor to satires. By 1720, Gillot was enlisted to design costumes for the last royal ballet, one of the final projects of his career. He died nine months after his most celebrated pupil, Watteau. The sale of his estate, which including his designs and many etched copper plates, provided material for printmakers and publishers and ensured Gillot’s lasting fame among print connoisseurs. His oeuvre as a draftsman and painter, however, was largely forgotten until drawings and canvases began to emerge in the first half of the twentieth century.

This elegant publication presents for the first time the Eveillard Gift of drawings to the Morgan Library& Museum. It accompanies an exhibition at the Morgan and includes a catalogue of the works with entries by drawings experts.The Morgan celebrates the 100th year of its founding with a series of exhibitions devoted to promised gifts to the museum, including 28 drawings from the holdings of New Yorkbased collectors Jean-Marie and Elizabeth Eveillard, which will be on view during the summer of 2024\. The selection comprises drawings from the seventeenth to the twentieth century, and includes a rare compositional study for Rembrandt’s first painting, Greuze’s virtuoso depiction of a young cook made for his friend Georges Wille, Delacroix’s intimate portrait of his confidante and caretaker Jenny Le Guillou, and a spectacular nude by Bonnard. Also in the gift are significant sheets—many rarely seen—by major artists including Rubens, Guercino, Watteau, Constable, Seurat, Cezanne, and Vuillard, among others. In fully illustrated entries, drawing specialists explore the creation and context for each sheet, considering the artist’s choices and the ways in which drawing liberated the imagination in these exploratory studies.