Description des objets d'art qui composent la collection Debruge Dumenil

Labarte, Jules

Published by A La Librairie Archeonologique de Victor Didron, Paris, 1847

About this Item

Rebound in burgundy cloth that matches the original leather spine, which has been laid down on the cloth. Top edge gilt. 858 pp., including index, followed by 5 plates of line engravings. Woodcut illustrations and vignettes throughout the text. Text is entirely in French. NOT A REPRINT! The first 409 pages or so are devoted to a historical description of the various parts of the collections. The balance of this large volume is devoted to a listing, in the same oriented order as the Introduction, of the 2006 items in the collection. Dumbarton Oaks' website gives the following Introduction to Labarte and this book in particular: "The 19th-century publications of Jules Labarte (1797-1880) are not only fundamental for the study of the Byzantine minor arts, which he calls "industrial arts," but they also document the growing interest in the subject as well as the evolution of art and archaeological illustration in the nineteenth century. As an aspiring lawyer, Labarte married the daughter of wealthy collector Louis-Fidel Debruge-Dumenil (1788-1838). By the time of Debruge-Dumenil's death, the collection contained more than 15,000 items representing the history of art, including a very large number of Byzantine, western medieval, and Renaissance objects. The heirs sold some of the collection but tasked Labarte with selecting, classifying, and identifying the remaining objects, a job he did with great meticulousness. To educate himself, he visited libraries, museums, and private collections throughout Europe, attended lectures and meetings of various societies, and researched the history of various media extensively. For the catalog, which was published in 1847 (Hollis #5919323), Labarte wrote an introduction that was more than 400 pages and that included histories of sculpture, painting, calligraphy, engraving, enamels, metalwork, ceramics, glass, jewelry, locks, clocks, furniture, and liturgical equipment. Woodcut illustrations were interspersed throughout the text. Although not as luxuriously illustrated or elaborately published as other catalogs, Labarte's work was well-received, and the erudite introduction became one of the fundamental works on the subject of the minor arts." Very scarce. VG, some light dampstaining and rippling to some sheets, nothing has been or is stuck together. Seller Inventory # 172658

Bibliographic Details

Title: Description des objets d'art qui composent ...

Publisher: A La Librairie Archeonologique de Victor Didron, Paris

Publication Date: 1847

Binding: Hardcover