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Plan de Paris. by LOUIS BRETEZ MICHEL-ETIENNE TURGOT

Creator: LOUIS BRETEZ MICHEL-ETIENNE TURGOT
Offered by: Shapero Gallery

Description
TURGOT, MICHEL-ETIENNE; LOUIS BRETEZ.
Plan de Paris.
Stock Code 93913
Paris, Achevé de gravure, 1739
£22,500
Turgot's celebrated plan of Paris during the reign of Louis XV - a fine, fresh copy attractively bound in full morocco.

Michel-Etienne Turgot (1690-1751), Louis XV's Prévot des Marchands, commissioned this plan in 1734 from Louis Bretez, a sculptor, painter and perspective specialist, who used the conventional bird's-eye representation (isometric projection). The stunning result shows maps with great and decorative details, being an important record of the architecture and gardens of Baroque Paris, the world capital at the time. This was the last major example of this type of plan.

Michel-Etienne Turgot was chief of the municipality of Paris as provost of merchants (the equivalent of today's mayor). He is the father of the famous economist and statesman Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, which history has remembered as an early advocate for economic liberalism. What motivated Michel-Etienne Turgot to commission a map of Paris was his will to promulgate the reputation of the city for provincial or foreign elites. That is why he asked Louis Bretez (c. 16.. - Paris, 1736), a French architect, cartographer and professor of perspective who belonged to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, to draw up the plan of Paris and its suburbs. Over his two years of work (1734-1736), Bretez was granted access to all the houses and gardens he needed to visit in order to take the relevant measurements.

The 21 sheets of the plan were created in 1736 by Claude Lucas, engraver of the Royal Academy of Sciences. The plan was published in 1739, and the prints were bound in volumes offered to the King, the members of the Academy and the Municipality. Additional copies were kept to be used as representations of France to foreigners. The 21 engraved brass plates are held by the Chalcography of the Louvre, where they are still used for re-printing based on the same techniques as almost three centuries ago.

More Information

Documentation:	Documented elsewhere (similar item)
Period:	18th Century
Styles / Movements:	Traditional
Dealer Reference #:	93913
Incollect Reference #:	611939

Message from Seller:

Shapero Gallery Located in the heart of Mayfair, London, Shapero Gallery specializes in prints and original works on paper, ranging from antique prints to modern pochoir plates and photography. For inquiries, contact us at +44.207.493.0876 or gallery@shapero.com.