Digitizing Project: Saint-Aubin

SAINT-AUBIN, CHARLES GERMAIN DE (French, 1721-1786)

RECEUIL DE PLANTES COPIEES D'APRES NATURE PAR DE SAINT AUBIN DESSINATEUR DU ROY LOUIS XV. 1736-1785.

France, 1736-1785

Manuscript comprising two leaves of manuscript text: "Histoire de Charles Germain de Saint Aubin, Dessinateur du Roi, auteur de ce livre," and "Généalogie des Saint Aubin"; title-page (watercolor on vellum with gilt lettering); 231 leaves of plants, mostly watercolors, some ink wash, some red pastel, some on blue paper; leaf number 231 has Saint Aubin's etched trade card pasted on verso; one leaf containing another of Saint-Aubin etched trade card and his bookplate; six etched plates pasted in including title-page, "Les Fleurettes de Saint Aubin dessinateur du Roy;" 20 leaves of plants and birds, mostly watercolors, some ink wash, some red pastel; manuscript on verso of last watercolor leaves; two leaves of manuscript text containing an index of the plants illustrated within. The recto of each leaf is numbered by hand in the upper right corner (fols. 1-258); the name and a description of the plant appear in manuscript, as well as a date between 1740 and 1786. Mottled brown calf; re-backed with original floriated gilt and gilt lettering: 'Sepecet De La Natur'. In half vellum and cloth box-case. Spine height: 15 7/8 inches.

Charles Germain de Saint-Aubin was the eldest of the seven surviving children of Gabriel Germain de Saint-Aubin (1696-1756), "Brodeur du Roi," of whom his son says, "Il fut beaucoup plus folâtre à cinquante ans qu'à quarante se donna beaucoup de peine, et ne laisse absolument rien à sept enfants restés de quinze." Born in 1721, he was set to work early in what was to prove his life-work and at which he excelled above all his rivals, namely, the designing of embroideries for the dresses and uniforms of French society. Below a frieze on tiny flowers on plate 131 in this volume he has written, "un des quarante mille Dessins de Broderies de Charles Germain de St. Aubin." Although he was not an artist of the first rank, he became a draughtsman of very considerable talent and an engraver of no small skill. His ephemera are still avidly sought after by the connoisseurs of this period. His only publication was the Essay de Papillonneries Humaines, two engraved series of fantasies, which were later to inspire the work of Grandville. He also designed a dinner service for Madame Du Barry. In character he was a quiet and modest man, although early in life he had taken for himself the title of Dessinateur du Roi. Much of his work is informed by a delightfully satirical sense of humor, which is confirmed by the very entertaining notes which he has jotted down in this volume, and the fact that five of the flowers in this volume are his own inventions and were only included to make fun of the botanists. His popularity, not only with his fellow artists, but also with the beau monde of Versailles is attested by another note on the verso of plate 258, (Translation) "Madam de Pompodour liked M. de St. Aubin very much and was his protector. She had a box of colors sent from China especially for him and often gave him presents of pieces of furniture and porcelain. As she drew and engraved, it pleased her to visit the artists of her time and she also visited Charles. M. de St. Aubin was received in the homes of many important people. On page 110 one reads that Madam Clotilde de France, daughter of the King, commissioned him to make a drawing to be framed in a portefeuille destined for his Majesty." A footnote under a bouquet of belles-de-jour (plate 68) states, "Madame la marquise de Pompadour a travaillé à cette bouquet en 1757." Charles Germain had two younger brothers, Gabriel Jacques and Augustin, who attained considerable fame, the one as a painter, the other as a draughtsman and engraver. Yet another brother, Louis Michel, was a porcelain painter at Sèvres. Charles Germain died in 1786, leaving a son and two daughters. Of himself he says in his preliminary Histoire, "Il travaille beaucoup, trop économe, amasse quelque chose à ses enfants don't le ministère lui fait perdre la moitié."

Thieme-Becker describes the Recueil des Plantes as Saint-Aubin's chief work. The drawings are executed with meticulous care for botanical accuracy and are very beautifully composed. Although they perhaps lack the finish of a Redouté, they make up for it in their charm, freedom and vitality. One of this volume's greatest attractions is that it is so clearly a labor of love. Drawings were added to it throughout St. Aubin's working life; the first is dated 1736, while he was still a boy, and the last 1785, the year before his death. At the end of the volume he has written that the moments spent on these drawings had given him more pleasure than any others had. Its associations with Madame de Pompadour and the Court of Versailles join to give it an almost irresistible appeal. At one time it contained a pencil portrait of Charles Germain by his brother, Augustin, done in 1767. This appears to have been removed after the Destailleur Sale in 1893.

The first two leaves contain a semi-humorous autobiography, notes and genealogy of the family, partly in Saint-Aubin's own hand, partly in another. The great majority of these drawings portray one, or occasionally two or three, species of flowers on a page. But what give this volume a great deal of its charm are the variations from this plan scattered through its pages. These include 12 bocquets of flowers, some simple, but some skillfully elaborated and beautifully composed; six flowers painted against a wash background, to heighten the effect; two drawings in wash; two in pen and wash; three in red chalk; three drawings of butterflies and insects; five drawings of rare shells; four drawings of birds. Perhaps the most delightful touch of all are six enchanting trompe l'oeil creations, portraying flowers with scrolls of paper supposedly mounted over the drawing or curled round the stalk of the plant. Trompe l'oeil drawings including:

1. View of the Château de Choisy (watercolor, leaf #2).
2. Soldiers looting an inn (pen and ink, rather in the style of Callot, leaf #8).
3. A piece of music, inscribed: "Essay de musique et de paroles. Dédiées à Mlle. de P…en lui rendant un miroir de poche." (pen and ink, leaf #46).
4. Vase in the rococo manner (pen and ink, leaf #55).
5. "Vue d'un bosquet dans le jardin de l'hotel de Lesdiguères à Paris." (watercolor, leaf #56).

Mounted towards the end of the album are two of St. Aubin's etched trade cards (one designed by Choffard and dated 1760) and his book-plate. These are followed by Les Fleurettes de St. Aubin, a series of 6 small etchings of flowers, which are of the greatest rarity. On the verso of plate 258 is a note in St. Aubin's own hand, describing how this volume came to be produced and the pleasure which it gave him, followed by a note in another hand relating St. Aubin's association with Madame la Pompadour. This is followed by a four-page index of plants.

Provenance: On the death of Charles Germain in 1786, this manuscript passed into the hands of his eldest daughter, Mme Marie Fraçoise Dounebecq, in whose possession it remained until her death at Fontainbleau in 1822. In her will she bequeathed it to the engraver Pierre Antoine Tardieu, the husband of Mme Dounebecq's niece, Eugénie Isabelle de Bernard. The manuscript later reappeared in the possession of the Parisian collector Hippolyte Destailleur, in whose auction in 1893 it was sold for 3,000 gold francs.

See: Thieme-Becker, Künstlerlexikon, Vol. XXIX, page 318.
E. and J. Goncourt, L'Art du Dix-huitième Siècle, Vol. II, pages 240-269 (Many of the manuscript notes in the
Volume are printed here in extenso).
Portalis, Dessinateurs du Dix-huitième Siècle, Vol. II, page 134.