Simonneau, Charles (1645-1728; French), after Le Brun, Charles (1619-90; French)
La Franche Comté conquise pour la seconde fois 1688
Engraving
Gift of George Collins Levey 1879
National Gallery of Victoria (p.183.40-1)
= Levey gift, cat.110
As the inscriptions indicate, this engraving reproduced Le Brun’s ceiling painting on the vault of the Grande Galerie at Versailles, dating from 1674, the year Louis XIV re-occupied the province he had first conquered in 1668 and ceded to Spain under the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.
Duplessis (1869) observes that this stand-alone print was often grouped with Baudet after Le Brun Le Grand Escalier de Versailles 1679-83 {1879} NGV [PR] and Audran after Mignard Tableaux de la Voute de la Galerie du Petit Appartement du Roy a Versailles {1879} NGV [PR] (Levey gift, cat.103-109 and 111-113).
Simonneau, born in Orléans, was a painter as well as an engraver.
Refs.
Not listed in NGV 1894 or 1905
The NGV catalogue lists this print as by an unknown engraver (with reproduction). Cf. Duplessis Cabinet du roi (1869), p.16, no.4. For Simonneau (1645-1728), see e.g. Bénézit 12, p.1251