Lot 111: JOSEPH NICÉPHORE NIÉPCE, 1765-1833

CARDINAL D'AMBOISE, 1826, PROBABLY PRINTED MID- TO LATE 1860S

measurements
heliogravure: size of image: 164 by 131mm (6 7/8 by 5 1/8 in.), size of paper: 276 by 205mm (10 7/8 by 8 in.)

alternate measurements
engraving: 166 by 129mm (6½ by 5 1/8 in.), size of paper: 217 by 150mm (8½ by 6 in.), both paper and image cropped along right edge

heliogravure, together with a [cropped] engraving of the same subject, the engraving printed with its title 'Georges Cardinal d'Amboise gran[d] Ministre d'Estat et Legat en France' and credit 'Briot, fe,'

Quantity: 2

PROVENANCE

Private Collection, France.

NOTE

'Cardinal d'Amboise' is Niépce's best-known heliographic image, featuring as it does in many histories of photography. There are three recorded pewter plates (heliographs) of this subject, each made by Niépce in late 1826. The subject is after an engraving by Isaac Briot, a print of which was sent to Niépce by his cousin Dubard de Curley earlier that year. Niépce wrote that the print 'm'a fourni des épreuves plus fortes de ton que toutes celles que j'avais obtenus précedemment' (letter to de Curley, 2 November 1826).

For a census of photo-engraved plates and prints on paper of 'Cardinal d'Amboise' made during Niépce's lifetime, see J.-L. Marignier, 1999. For a census of posthumous prints, see P. Jay, 1988. Although it has proved impossible to definitively date the heliogravure offered here, comparison with other extant examples suggests that it was most likely made in the mid- to late 1860s under the direction of Jules Chevrier.

The engraving of Cardinal Amboise by Briot was used as the frontispiece to Michel Baudier's Histoire de l'Administration du Cardinal d'Amboise, [Paris: Pierre Rocolet: 1634]. The print offered here (together with the heliogravure) is likely to have been removed from a copy of Baudier's book (see La Photographie II: Collection Marie-Thérèse et André Jammes, Sotheby's, Paris, 21 March 2003, lot 38).

A copy of the conservation report is available on request.