Comte de Buffon

1798

Augustin de Saint-Aubin after Piat Joseph Sauvage

Associated Names
Augustin de Saint-Aubin

Artist, French, 1736 - 1807

Piat Joseph Sauvage

Artist After, Flemish, 1744 - 1818

The image shows a man in profile within an ornate circular frame. The man has a pronounced nose and detailed shading on his facial features. His hair is styled in a classic manner and tied back with a ribbon. He is dressed in formal attire from the 18th-century, complete with a high collar or cravat. Below the portrait, there is a trumpet, foliage resembling a laurel branch, and a partially unrolled scroll with text. The background features a textured dark surface with a patterned frame and decorative leafy motif above the circular frame against an engraved sky with light clouds.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    engraving over etching on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Gift of John O'Brien

  • Dimensions

    plate: 22.1 x 14.8 cm (8 11/16 x 5 13/16 in.)
    sheet: 32.5 x 25.1 cm (12 13/16 x 9 7/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1986.88.20

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Bocher 1879, no. 31, State iii/iv

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Pierre Defer-Henri Dumesnil (Lugt 739)

Associated Names

Bibliography

1879

  • Bocher, Emmanuel. Augustin de Saint-Aubin. Les gravures francaises du XVIIIe siecle, 5. Paris: Damascene Morgand et Charles Fatout, 1879.

Inscriptions

around circumference in plate bottom of medallion: Sauvage pinx.; lower center in plate on top scroll: HISTOIRE / NATURELLE; lower center in plate on bottom scroll: Theorie de la Terre.; lower center in plate below ledge: Nat uram ampleotitur omnem; lCp//below frame: A.S.[in monogram] fecit.

Wikidata ID

Q74875502

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