Bérain, Jean, the Elder (1640-1711; French)

Works included in this catalogue
Bérain Plan General du Chasteau du Louvre {1879} NGV [PR] [Levey gift, cat.39-40]
Bérain & Scotin Ornemens de peinture… [title page] 1710 {1879} NGV [PR] [Levey gift, cat.54]
Bérain Galerie d’Apollon [Ornemens, pls.2-12] {1879} NGV [PR] [Levey gift, cat.55-65]

Bérain the Elder, from an artistic family, was appointed dessinateur de la Chambre et du cabinet du Roi in 1674, and apparently produced the 2-part engraving of Claude Perrault’s grand scheme for linking the Louvre and Tuileries palaces in that year.

The other prints listed above, also from the 1879 Levey gift to the NGV, are traditionally ascribed to Bérain the Elder, but attributed by the French National Library to Jean Bérain fils (1674-1726).

A large tapestry, made to the design of Bérain père in Beauvais in about 1700, is also in the NGV collection (Felton Bequest 1948).

Refs.

For Bérain the Elder, see AKL 9 (1994), pp.209-10, and Bénézit 2, pp.195-96 (indicating slightly different biographical dates). For the tapestry mentioned, see https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/50920/ (with photo)