If you follow our website or have seen any of Peggy’s talks, you probably know that Augustin Edouart was meticulous about his silhouette art. If you would like a refresher about his story, follow the link below for “Silhouettist Bios” for a summary of why he is one of the most important and prolific silhouette artists in history – it is an incredible story. And, on top of that, a new and exciting discovery surfaced a few years ago from a Parisian bookseller: Edouart’s personal folio of “Scraps” in a book titled “Animaux”. This is the most exciting Edouart discovery in a century! And the dog presented here is one of the totally unique scraps taken from Edouart’s personal folio.

Here we offer a bully-type dog (he could be from mastiff or terrier lineage, whichever one prefers, but we think his proportions depict something a bit husker than a Boston or Frenchie!) with masterfully cut head, neck, and feet. Notice how the attention to his head, ears, eyes, nose, and mouth make it so easy to imagine the loose and wrinkly facial skin these wonderful dogs have. And his feet show the knuckling, pads, and toenails one would expect from an Edouart. It also appears as though he is wearing a broad and spiked collar to protect his neck while on the job. Finally, his stride and tail are handsomely proportionate, and this piece is an exceptionally fine example of his many dog cuttings from “Animaux”.

We framed him in a period, lightly figured, birds-eye maple frame with our stamps certifying this cutting was removed from Edouart’s scrapbook and is offered from Peggy’s collection. The frame is 9” square and the sight size is 5” square.

You may recall that over a century ago, Mrs. F. Nevil Jackson discovered the duplicate folios in the first decade of the 20th century in Guernsey where Edouart left them with the Lukis family. The story of “Animaux” is every bit as exciting as the story of the duplicate folios. It appears that Edouart kept his “Animaux” book and took it with him to Calais, France. It was filled with figures of dogs, horses, toys, mythical characters, floral sprays, and on and on. We surmise Edouart used the book to keep figures that he cut to practice unusual forms that he might have been commissioned to add to conversation silhouettes as well as figures that he cut for his own amusement. The book was a treasure trove of incredible pieces. We have been so lucky to acquire more than 200 figures removed from his book. We have sold and will continue to sell these figures, always lightly mounted on acid-free materials, and framed in period maple frames as Edouart would have insisted. The reverse of the mountings are always stamped with a specially made stamp for items from this book and also with Peggy’s collection stamp. We insist on mounting and stamping because these figures are so unusual (although distinctly from Edouart’s hand) that we want to help future generations authenticate them. The silhouettes from Edouart’s “Animaux” were cut between 1826 and at least 1845.

#6324    $875

References:

Edouart, Augustin, A Treatise on Silhouette Likenesses, Longman & Co., Paternoster-Row; and J. Bolster, Patrick-Street, Cork, 1835.

Jackson, Mrs. E. Nevill, Silhouettes A History and Dictionary of Artists, Dover Publications, Inc., New York, 1981 (published as an unabridged republication of Jackson’s Silhouette: Notes and Dictionary, Methuen & Co. Ltd, 1938), at 98-99.

Please see the Silhouettist Bios page for more information about Edouart.