Bérain, Jean (the Elder) (1640-1711), or Jean Bérain fils (1674-1726)
Decorative details from the Galerie d’Apollon in the Louvre [Ornemens…, 1710, plates 2-12)]
Etching and engraving, various sizes (11 prints)
Gift of George Collins Levey 1879
National Gallery of Victoria (p.183.108-1 to p.183.118-1)
= Levey gift, cat.55-65
[photo: Plate 3 (p.183.109-1)]
These prints document the decorative wall and ceiling panels (trumeaux and plat-fonds) of the Gallery of Apollo in the Louvre, substantially rebuilt after a fire in 1661, to the designs of Charles Le Brun and others. The gallery, decorated under Le Brun’s direction from 1663 onwards, later served as a model for the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles (1678ff.).
The catalogue of the French National Library indicates that these engravings, although usually described as the work of Bérain the Elder, probably should be considered the work of Jean Bérain fils (1674-1726).
In sequence, the individual prints, all inscribed simply “Berain delin.et Sculps,” are as follows: Grands Trumeaux (plates 2-3); Petits Trumeaux (plates 4-6), and Plat-fonds (plates 7-12): for reproductions and details of each print, refer NGV’s online catalogue.
For the title page, see Bérain & Scotin Ornemens de peinture… 1710 {1879} NGV [PR].
Refs.
Not listed in NGV 1894 or 1905
The NGv catalogue includes full details and reproductions of all 11 prints, citing IFF 24-34 (Inventaire du fonds français, graveurs du XVIIe siècle, 1951, II, by R.Weigert)
See also Suite et arrangement (1727), p.3; and Duplessis Cabinet du roi (1869), p.15