Louis Claude Dumesnil Sold at Auction Prices

DUMESNIL, Pierre-Louis; DUMESNIL, Louis-Claude Representation du feu d'arti

DUMESNIL, Pierre-Louis; DUMESNIL, Louis-Claude Representation du feu d'artifice elevé devant l'hotel de ville par l'ordre de Mrs. les Prevost des marchands et echevins de la ville de Paris, en rejouissance de la prise de la ville et chateau de Gand le 11 et 15 juillet 1745 par l'Armée du Roy, commandé par sa Majesté. Paris N.-J.-B. de Poilly; A. Herisset s.d Engr., 26 x 31,5 cm (sm. spots). Very rare print illustrating the reenactment of the 5,000 strong French force capturing the town at the Fall of Ghent, on 15 July 1745, during the War of the Austrian Succession. The brothers Pierre-Louis (1698-1781) and Louis-Claude (1705?-1769) Dumesnil printed illustrations of pyrotechnical machines built to commemorate King Louis XV's recovery of illness as well as his victories in Flanders. This print depicts a fortified medieval turret, defended by soldiers firing from above. It was financed by the echevins of Paris as part of festivities held in Paris on 2 August 1745. The architect Jean Baptiste Augustin Beausire supervised the execution by the pyrotechnist Dodement. Ref. BNF, Estampes et photographie, Reserve QB-201 (98)-FOL.