Ornemens Inventez par J. Berain et se vendent Chez Monsieur Thuret aux Galleries du Louvre
Artist: Jean Bérain I (French, 1640-1711)
Publisher: Jacques Thuret, Paris, [about 1710]
Date: 1710
Dimensions:
book: 20 x 16 1/8 x 1 3/4 in. (508 x 409 x 44mm)
page: 19 3/8 x 15 3/8 in. (492 x 390mm)
Medium: Original prints: engravings on cream wove paper
Classification: Books
Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number: 1983.104A-GGGGG
Label Text:John Bérain was an architect and designer who specialized in whimsical decorations known as “grotesques.” Grotesques were popular in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and fit nicely with the Baroque period’s delight with fantasy. His designs were used for furniture decoration, tapestries, and ceramics.
Bérain studied with Charles LeBrun, the most influential arbiter of artistic taste in the court of Louis XIV (see LeBrun’s work in this exhibition). Indeed, Bérain was himself appointed to the court of Louis XIV in 1674 as designer of the House and the Royal Collection and he became the official decorator of the Royal Academy of Music in 1680.
Bérain studied with Charles LeBrun, the most influential arbiter of artistic taste in the court of Louis XIV (see LeBrun’s work in this exhibition). Indeed, Bérain was himself appointed to the court of Louis XIV in 1674 as designer of the House and the Royal Collection and he became the official decorator of the Royal Academy of Music in 1680.
Not on view
In Collection(s)