Pierre-Francois Basan
(23 Oct 1723 - 12 Jan 1797) |
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Art Work
| Name: |
Pierre-Francois Basan |
| Gender: |
Male |
| Place of Birth: |
Paris |
| Nationality: |
French |
| Birth: |
23 Oct 1723 |
| Death: |
12 Jan 1797 |
| Website: |
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| Past Auctions: |
Click Here |
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Quick Facts
| Known For: |
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| Medium: |
engraver, print-seller and dealer |
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Biography
| His father was Claude-Pierre Basan, a wine merchant in Paris. Pierre-Francois received his first lessons in drawing and engraving from his cousin Etienne Fessard (1714-77); he then studied under Jean Daulle. From 1747 he worked for the print-seller Michel Odieuvre (1687-1756), for whom he engraved 58 portraits. Between 1750 and 1754 he contributed to the engraving of the paintings in the Saxon royal collection in Dresden and in the collection of Heinrich, Graf von Bruhl. He also engraved 14 illustrations for the Histoire naturelle of Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1749-67; Paris, Bib. N. cat. nos 272-85).However, it is as a print-seller rather than as an engraver that Basan is best remembered. By his own admission, he had too much vivacite de caractere for the exacting task of the engraver, and in 1754 he virtually gave up engraving to become an entrepreneur of print publishing. He employed many young engravers to engrave under his direction, most of them having been trained in the studios of Jacques-Philippe Lebas, Jacques-Firmin Beauvarlet, Noal Le Mire or Jean-Georges Wille. Between 1761 and 1779 Basan published his stock in six folio volumes known as LOeuvre de Basan. This shows his holdings to have consisted mainly of engravings after contemporary French artists and after Dutch and Flemish artists of the 17th century. He both imported and exported engravings, developing a commercial empire that extended as far as Rome, London, Stockholm, Warsaw and St Petersburg. By 1788 he had nearly 5000 copperplates in store. Basan compiled and published his Dictionnaire des graveurs in 1767, when the first volume of another major undertaking also appeared: a superb edition, published in association with Le Mire, of Ovids Metamorphoses (1767-71), with 140 illustrations after Francois Boucher, Charles Eisen, Hubert-Francois Gravelot, Charles Monnet (1732-1808), Jean-Michel Moreau and Philippe-Louis Parizeau (1740-1801). Basan was responsible for the engraving of the paintings of Etienne-Francois, Duc de Choiseul, and of Antoine Poullain. He drew up inventories of succession and directed the sales of many famous people, including those of his friend and adviser Pierre-Jean Mariette (1775) and the Marquis de Marigny (1782). Between 1756 and 1792 Basan directed some 112 sales.In 1751 Basan married Marie Drouet, Le Mires ward; their marriage contract was witnessed by two other engravers, Robert Hecquet (1693-1775) and Pierre-Etienne Moitte. Their daughter Frederique married Etienne-Leon Poignant, who was a partner in Basans firm until 1788. Basans sons Henry-Louis Basan and Antoine-Simon-Ferdinand Basan (1763/4-98) continued his business under the name of Basan Freres until the death of the latter; Henry continued on his own until 1809, although he became bankrupt in 1802. |
Samples of Work
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