M ay, 1917 
21 
“Qtte n'y est-il encore” by Petit after Boilly. is 
in limpkl blues and carnations showing one of 
the ladies who survived the revolutionary fury 
In a French room with delicate paneled grey walls a French print is entirely at home. 
This room is in the home of Miss Anne Morgan 
Johnston-Hewitt Studios 
bought many sheets of “Pauvre An¬ 
nette” more cheaply than lie could have 
bought plain wrapping paper. The 
hated ‘Testampe galante” had become 
worse than worthless, and it was ap¬ 
propriate that meat for the people 
should be wrapped in it. The emanci¬ 
pated citizens of France destroyed them 
wherever they could find them. They 
were the hated symbols of the aristoc¬ 
racy, even though they were exquisite 
creations of the most excpiisite period 
of French art. And they were no long¬ 
er art, even, for had not David and his 
school come in with the Revolution, de¬ 
picting for the world in cool greys the 
austerities of classic Rome? The ar¬ 
tists of the old regime were reduced to 
starvation, or were making a scanty 
living imitating David and the new re¬ 
publican school. Beauty and gayety 
had gone into eclipse, not to emerge 
again until succeeding generations had 
been able to get the right sort of a 
focus on art and on the Revolution. 
Some of these superb prints perished 
to the last copy. The colored edition 
of ‘“Pauvre Annette” almost suffered 
that fate. Only one copy exists today, 
the one in the collection which Mr. Joseph 
E. Widener acquired last season from the 
Knoedler Galleries, and which had been 
formed by the French deputy, M. Chris- 
tophle. This particular print is almost price¬ 
less. If it were sold at auction it might 
bring $10,000 or more. Only a few copies 
of the black and white edition survive, in 
the portfolios of collectors. 
Why Prints Are Prized 
Thousands of other prints did survive, 
however, zealously cherished and hidden 
away by the monarchists. Other thousands 
were of such a 
harmless nature 
that even the re¬ 
publicans, affected 
by their beauty, 
kept the m for 
decorative pur¬ 
poses. And to¬ 
day 18th Century 
French prints are 
especially prized 
by American 
home builders, 
because they give 
an exquisite and 
dainty touch to a 
French room. 
They are almost 
indispensable to a 
Louis XV or a 
Louis XVI room, 
being out of the 
very nature of 
things a part of 
the furnishing, 
and they give a 
certain welcome 
relief to the more 
austere appear¬ 
ance of a Louis 
XIV room. If 
con sistency is 
sought in a Louis 
XIV room, the 
portrait engrav¬ 
ings of Nanteuil 
and the best of 
h i s contempo¬ 
raries are in every way suitable. 
In a French room, whose walls, with 
their delicate paneling, are a pale grey, pic¬ 
tures of the strength of the Dutch or Eng¬ 
lish schools would strike a discordant note. 
They would upset the harmony of the ar¬ 
rangement. Even an English mezzotint, 
done by a master of the art, would speak 
too loudly from the walls, though its subject 
were as gentle as one of Reynolds’ fair 
ladies posing as a goddess under the shade 
of a romantic English tree. 
But the French color print, with its car¬ 
nations and its limpid blues, sujqilies just 
the right note. The gay and radiant 
ladies of the court coquetting with their 
gallant beaux, the poignant little ro¬ 
mances that are told, seem altogether 
at home with the inlaid tortoise shell 
table, the graceful chairs, the frail look¬ 
ing—but strong—cabinet, the debonair 
clock and the other delightful objects 
that belong in a French room. And the 
verdant landscape backgrounds that go 
with the engravings of famous pictures 
bv Fragonard, Lancret and Pater are 
in perfect consonance with the bits of 
tapestry, pastoral and airy, that adorn 
the furniture of the period. 
These 18th Century prints have given 
almost indispensable aid to our Ameri¬ 
can architects. Many of them depict 
interiors, and the engravers have limned 
to the last detail all the elegancies of 
the furnishing and decoration of the 
walls. Never before and never since 
have artists lovingly supplied such de¬ 
tail. Even the titles of books lying on 
the table before my lady appear in these 
prints, together with tlie fine tracery 
of tapestry chairs and delicate carvings 
of mural borders. These prints also 
show just how the prints themselves 
were used for decorative purposes in the 
rooms constructed in the thirty years be¬ 
fore the Revolution. So, in the hands of 
the architect and the interior decorator they 
form an artistic circle, being decorations 
themselves and pointing the way to other 
harmonious decorations. 
Eacts for Collectors 
Because ‘‘Pauvre Annette” is worth $10,- 
000 it must not be thought that 18th Cen¬ 
tury Erench prints are at all prohibitive in 
price. Beautiful examples for decorative 
purposes can be had for modest figures. 
The high priced 
ones are ‘‘collec¬ 
tor’s pieces.” The 
publishers put 
their wares on 
the market in an 
age of collectors, 
and they soon 
f o u n d that, no 
matter how beau¬ 
tiful a print might 
be, it appealed to 
the collector only 
when it was rare. 
Therefore a few 
“‘pure etchings.” 
without either the 
name of the artist 
or the engraver, 
were made. Next 
a few ‘‘finished 
proofs before let¬ 
ters” were pulled, 
having only the 
name of the artist 
and the engraver. 
Then an edition 
would be printed 
with the arms of 
the noble to whom 
the p r i n t was 
dedicated, the title 
and the name of 
the artist. Lastly 
would be a popu¬ 
lar edition with 
(Continued on 
page 82) 
