Lot n° 8
Estimation :
1000 - 1500
EUR
Jacques Eustache de Sève (vers 1770-1830)
The lynx 1792
Feather and grey wash on paper 18.7 x 17.6 cm.
Signed and dated, below, centre: "De Sève 1792"
Jacques Eustache was the main collaborator of his father Jacques (1712-1788), to whom Buffon had entrusted a large part of the illustration of his Histoire Naturelle, published in 36 volumes between 1755 and 1788.
These drawings were made either from stuffed models from the royal collections, or from live models, particularly those from the King's Menagerie, or from drawings brought back by Buffon's travellers and correspondents abroad.
When Jacques died, his son took part in the new edition of 1798, redesigned by the publisher René-Richard Castel, and presented new plates, as well as a new layout of those of his father: "put on a uniform scale, in order to avoid a defect that Buffon had complained about, and to preserve the proportions between the various animals".
These two drawings are reprints, with variations, of two drawings by Jacques, kept at the BnF, having been engraved by Pierre-Etienne Moitte (1722-1780). The weasel, whose drawing is dated 1756, corresponds to plate XVIII of volume VII, published in 1758. Jacques Eustache depicts it in an architectural environment a little more complex than that of his father, and in a dynamic position, starting a movement of ascent.
The lynx, whose drawing is dated 1759, corresponds to plate XXI of volume IX, published in 1761. Jacques Eustache, for his version, chooses the same orientation as the engraving, and offers the feline a prey (the weasel?), on which, in the same effort to energize the subject, he makes him put down both legs, as a sign of victory.
Drawings of both father and son are extremely rare in private hands. Those of the father were, as early as the 18th century, gathered in luxurious bound collections. One of these is known at the BnF, with nearly 500 drawings in six volumes, bound in red morocco with the royal coat of arms (BnF, Reserve JB-23 A-E).
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