Jean de La Fontaine: XXIV Fables

Title

en_US Jean de La Fontaine: XXIV Fables

Description

en_US Language note: French

en_US #36 of 99

Jean de La Fontaine

Creator

en_US La Fontaine, Jean de See all items with this value

Contributor

en_US Krol, Abram

Date

2022-11-07T16:11:40Z

2017-03

en_US 1959

Date Available

2022-11-07T16:11:40Z

Date Issued

en_US 1959

Abstract

en_US This large-format (9" x 11¾") portfolio of 116 pages in loose folios has quite a history with this collection. I was aware of it for a long time, since it is featured in Hobbs and I had never seen it personally until it showed up on Ebay in 2017 shortly before we were making our selections for the Joslyn Show. We bought it then, but the Joslyn team and I concurred that the art here did not fit as well the narrative focus of the coming exhibit. I packed away the samples I had shown them. I next had a chance at cataloguing the portfolio during the pandemic summer of 2020, but I could not find the information on how and when we had obtained it. It sat for another year. Now at the end of the spring semester in 2021, I noticed it waiting for cataloguing and took it up, figuring that it would be a long and frustrating process. It took some tracking, but I found it among my Ebay receipts online! As I hunted then for web comments on it, I came across an extended description on Worthpoint, a site I do not know. The more I read, the more familiar the description sounded. To my surprise, it was our copy that was being described – minus the cost, seller, and buyer. I had come full circle, and I include the extended description that Worthpoint reproduced from the seller. Now to the work itself: it involves a double process, perhaps best described as starting with a woodcut imprint on heavy vergé de Rives stock. One can see the outlines of this imprint on the verso of each illustrated page. Then is there a copper print using aquatint and sand-like colors? The effect is certainly striking! Most of the 24 fables have their own four-page folio; only three (VII, XIV, and XVII) carry over onto the next folio. The 24 illustrations are generally not strongly tied, as far as I can tell, to the their fables' narratives. Good exceptions are TB (XIII); "Heron" (XVI); "Coach and Fly" (XIX); and "The Old Man and Three Youths" (XXIII). I find the presentation of "The Young Widow" (XIV) startling! Perhaps still the best illustration is that which Hobbs chooses: FS (IV). This portfolio is a worthy addition to the collection! It comes complete with a letter in its envelope from Krol to the dedicatees.

Identifier

en_US 483.1

en_US 12549 (Access ID)

uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10504/138770

Language

en_US fre

Publisher

en_US Abram Krol

en_US Paris

Subject

Jean de La Fontaine See all items with this value