#lemercier

I received this rubbish that you sent me on the wheat trade and which is completely ridiculous. This is economist chatter. Who in France is opposed to the wheat trade? Who is opposed to Export? It is not the law of the land; it is the English who prevent neutrals from coming to our ports. These reasonings are pitiful, but have a great disadvantage: they encourage commerce to govern the government, raise discussions and create agitation in people's minds. The administration is not an economist. The principles of wheat trade are invariable: there is export as soon as there are outlets, there is no export without trade with foreign countries. It is England which prevents these means of commerce. I’ve tried to make up for it with licenses, and if we use them, this could remedy the problem.

As for what concerns me, please do not send me such nonsense. I don't need the drivel or the lessons of M. Dupont de Nemours and a few merchants.

I read the letters from the Chamber of Commerce. You were wrong to receive them, and I am sorry to see the direction you are giving to the Interior. We don't need lessons from Chambers of Commerce. Conversations with a few educated traders can be useful but the Chamber deliberation are always useless and have serious disadvantages. The Chamber of Commerce must be very ignorant if it does not know: 1° that the Americans have not lifted the embargo for France; 2° that I have never opposed the Americans coming to our ports; it is the English who oppose it.

The embargo has been lifted for Holland. The King felt he had to accept it. I stopped allowing the introduction of goods from Holland into France, and I summoned him to rescind the measure he took, wanting France and Holland to follow the same principle; and certainly, if England wants to let American ships come to France, I will be the first to approve it.

The Chamber of Commerce knows nothing and only talks about precepts. Please do not expose me to the inconvenience of receiving such memoranda. I can see you have no experience of interior affairs: we don't need any new legislation on trade. France is suffering a lot, I know, not because of legislation but because of England's blockade. This comes from the fact that the Danish, Russian, Prussian etc., as enemies, cannot circulate, that the Americans put the embargo on them, then later issued an act of prevention. There is no flow channel; we sought to supplement this with patents or licenses. Let me know the effect of these measures and do not agitate the spirit of commerce with crazy and untimely discussions. They will talk a lot and say nothing of value: they do not even have the first notions of the question.

Decorative Sunday

In 1823, an aspring young lawyer named Jules Labarte (1797-1880) married Joséphine Debruge-Duménil*, the only daughter of the wealthy art collector Louis-Fidel Debruge-Duménil (1788-1838). He was enthralled by his father-in-laws collection, one of the first major private collections of Medieval and Renaissance Art in France, and by 1835 he had abandoned the law to dedicate himself to the study of art history. A few years later, Debruge-Duménil passed away unexpectedly, and Labarte was charged with identifying and cataloging his collection of over fifteen thousand artifacts, a task he took on with great meticulousness. 

The resulting catalog was published in 1847 by La Librarie Archeonologique de Victor Didron with a 400 page introduction. This well-researched introduction became a highly sought after text, and Didron pressed Labarte for years to produce a second edition. Labarte refused for years, but allowed for a English translation, published in 1855 by J. Murray of London as Handbook of the Arts of the Middle Ages and Renaissance as Applied to the Decoration of Furniture, Arms, Jewels, Etc. 

The English edition only increased the appetite for a revised French edition, to which Labarte finally agreed. Between 1864 and 1866, Histoire des arts industriels au Moyen Âge et à l'époque de la Renaissance was published in Paris by A. Morel et Cie. in four volumes, with two additional volumes of plates. Printing was done by Henri Plon, an ancestor of 16th century Danish typographer Jehan Plon. The plates are primarily chromolithographs produced by Lemercier, the largest lithography firm in Paris at the time. Keep your eyes peeled for a follow up post where we will share images from the second album and discuss Rose-Joseph Lemercier (1803-1887).

The above images are all sourced from the first album of plates. Critics praised the book’s illustration for its rich colors and “photo-like accuracy.” You might look at the last image above (of the statue St. Anne and her Children by German artist Hans Greiff) and question that characterization based on the somewhat bizarre faces, but lo and behold, the faces on the actual statue are a bit strange! See for yourself:

Find more posts on publisher August Morel here. 

Peruse more Decorative Sunday posts here. 

-Olivia, Special Collections Graduate Intern

El fotógrafo.