Bernard Picart or Picard (11 June 1673 – 8 May 1733), was a French draughtsman, engraver, and

book illustrator The illustration of manuscript books was well established in ancient times, and the tradition of the illuminated manuscript thrived in the West until the invention of printing. Other parts of the world had comparable traditions, such as the Pers ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, who showed an interest in cultural and religious habits.

Life

Picart was born in

rue Saint-Jacques, Paris Rue Saint-Jacques is a street in the Latin Quarter of Paris which lies along the ''cardo'' of Roman Lutetia. Boulevard Saint-Michel, driven through this old quarter of Paris by Baron Haussmann, relegated the roughly parallel Rue Saint-Jacques to ...

as son of Etienne Picart, a famous engraver. In 1689, he studied drawing and architecture at the

Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture The Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture (; en, "Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture") was founded in 1648 in Paris, France. It was the premier art institution of France during the latter part of the Ancien Régime until it was abol ...

. He was taught by

Charles le Brun Charles Le Brun (baptised 24 February 1619 – 12 February 1690) was a French painter, physiognomist, art theorist, and a director of several art schools of his time. As court painter to Louis XIV, who declared him "the greatest French artist of ...

, along with

Benoît Audran the Elder Benoît Audran the Elder (23 November 1661 – 3 September 1721) was a French engraver. The second son of Germain Audran, he was born at Lyons. He received his first instruction in the art of engraving from his father; but had afterwards the adva ...

, Sébastien Leclerc and

Antoine Coypel Antoine Coypel (11 April 16617 January 1722) was a French painter, pastellist, engraver, decorative designer and draughtsman.Grove Art, accessed 26 May 2007
/ref> He took over his father's workshop. After his wife, Cloudina Pros, the daughter of a bookseller, and their children died, he settled in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

together with

Prosper Marchand Prosper Marchand (11 March 1678 – 14 June 1756) was an 18th-century French bibliographer, who moved to the Dutch Republic in December 1709. He became a famous annotator and publisher of philosophical, religious and historical works, skilled ...

in January 1710. There Picart, Marchand and Charles Levier belonged to a "radical Huguenot coterie", who studied the works of

John Locke John Locke (; 29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "father of liberalism ...

, which promoted the separation of

church and state The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular stat ...

. They joined the Walloon church but were influenced by

Jean Claude Jean Claude (1619 – 13 January 1687) was a French Protestant divine. He was born at La Sauvetat-du-Dropt near Agen. After studying at Montauban, Jean Claude entered the ministry in 1645. For eight years he was professor of theology in th ...

and

Pierre Bayle Pierre Bayle (; 18 November 1647 – 28 December 1706) was a French philosopher, author, and lexicographer. A Huguenot, Bayle fled to the Dutch Republic in 1681 because of religious persecution in France. He is best known for his '' Historica ...

who both fled to the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...

in earlier years.De Amsterdamse boekhandel 1680-1725. Deel 4. Gegevens over de vervaardigers, hun internationale relaties en de uitgaven N-W, papierhandel, drukkerijen en boekverkopers in het algemeen (1967)–Isabella Henriëtte van Eeghen
/ref> Picart accepted a commission to draw prints for the Bible.De Amsterdamse boekhandel 1680-1725. Deel 4. Gegevens over de vervaardigers, hun internationale relaties en de uitgaven N-W, papierhandel, drukkerijen en boekverkopers in het algemeen (1967)–Isabella Henriëtte van Eeghen
/ref> He and Marchand moved to Amsterdam in 1711 (later being joined by his father

Étienne Picart Étienne, a French analog of Stephen or Steven, is a masculine given name. An archaic variant of the name, prevalent up to the mid-17th century, is Estienne. Étienne, Etienne, Ettiene or Ettienne may refer to: People Scientists and inventors ...

(le Romain). In April 1712 he married Anna Vincent (1684–1736) in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

, the marriage was assisted by her father Ysbrand Vincent (1642–1718) who had initially disagreed with the marriage. Ysbrand was a rich paper seller, who moved to France but fled in 1686. From 1702 on, he was editor of

playwrights A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

written by himself or the other members of

Nil volentibus arduum ''Nil volentibus arduum'' is a Latin expression meaning "nothing is impossible for those willing", and the name of a 17th-century Dutch literary society that tried to bring French literature to the Dutch Republic. Short history of the literary soci ...

.De Amsterdamse boekhandel 1680-1725. Deel 4. Gegevens over de vervaardigers, hun internationale relaties en de uitgaven N-W, papierhandel, drukkerijen en boekverkopers in het algemeen (1967)–Isabella Henriëtte van Eeghen
/ref>

Levinus Vincent Levinus Vincent the Younger, (1658 in Amsterdam – 8 November 1727 in Haarlem) was a rich Dutch designer of patterns and merchant of luxurious textiles, such as damask, silk and brocade.Colenbrander, S. (2010). Zolang de weefkunst bloeit : zij ...

became his uncle, a

Mennonite Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...

who owned a cabinet of curiosities in Haarlem. Picart moved in with his father-in-law and designed several

book frontispiece A frontispiece in books is a decorative or informative illustration facing a book's title page—on the left-hand, or verso, page opposite the right-hand, or recto, page. In some ancient editions or in modern luxury editions the frontispiece featu ...

s. In May 1713 the couple had male twins, who both died within a few weeks; he portrayed them both. Picart became a

citizen Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

, joined the guild and published a book about his teacher Charles Le Brun.De Amsterdamse boekhandel 1680-1725. Deel 4. Gegevens over de vervaardigers, hun internationale relaties en de uitgaven N-W, papierhandel, drukkerijen en boekverkopers in het algemeen (1967)–Isabella Henriëtte van Eeghen
/ref> His three daughters were baptized in

Westerkerk The Westerkerk (; en, Western Church) is a Reformed church within Dutch Protestant Calvinism in central Amsterdam, Netherlands. It lies in the most western part of the Grachtengordel neighborhood (Centrum borough), next to the Jordaan, between ...

. Picart may have had a better understanding of the

Dutch language Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic language spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language. It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-Europea ...

. In 1711 he collaborated with Cornelis de Bruyn on the frontispiece of ''Reizen over Moskovie, door Persie en Indie'', published in 1718 as ''Voyages de Corneille le Brun par la Moscovie, en Perse, et aux Indes Occidentales''. In 1724, he worked with

Philipp von Stosch Baron Philipp von Stosch (22 March 1691 – 7 November 1757) was a Prussian antiquarian who lived in Rome and Florence. Life Stosch was born in Küstrin (today Kostrzyn in Poland) in the Neumark region of Brandenburg. In 1709, with the ble ...

, a Prussian antiquarian, whose ''Gemmæ Antiquæ Cælatæ (Pierres antiques graveés)'', Picart's engravings reproduced 70 antique carved hardstones such as

onyx Onyx primarily refers to the parallel banded variety of chalcedony, a silicate mineral. Agate and onyx are both varieties of layered chalcedony that differ only in the form of the bands: agate has curved bands and onyx has parallel bands. The c ...

jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases,Kostov, R. I. 2010. Review on the mineralogical systematics of jasper and related rocks. – Archaeometry Workshop, 7, 3, 209-213PDF/ref> ...

and

carnelian Carnelian (also spelled cornelian) is a brownish-red mineral commonly used as a semi-precious gemstone. Similar to carnelian is sard, which is generally harder and darker (the difference is not rigidly defined, and the two names are often use ...

from European collections, a volume of inestimable value to antiquarians and historians. His most famous work is ''Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples du monde'', appearing from 1723 to 1743 and in collaboration with Jean Frédéric Bernard, a successful author and publisher who promoted

religious tolerance Religious toleration may signify "no more than forbearance and the permission given by the adherents of a dominant religion for other religions to exist, even though the latter are looked on with disapproval as inferior, mistaken, or harmful". ...

and

gallicanism Gallicanism is the belief that popular civil authority—often represented by the monarch's or the state's authority—over the Catholic Church is comparable to that of the Pope. Gallicanism is a rejection of ultramontanism; it has som ...

. Between 1733–1736 Bernard published a book about

superstition A superstition is any belief or practice considered by non-practitioners to be irrational or supernatural, attributed to fate or magic, perceived supernatural influence, or fear of that which is unknown. It is commonly applied to beliefs and ...

with engravings by Picart. Because of the many prints it also seems he sympathized with

Jansenists Jansenism was an early modern theological movement within Catholicism, primarily active in the Kingdom of France, that emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace, and predestination. It was declared a heresy by ...

, the

Armenian Apostolic Church , native_name_lang = hy , icon = Armenian Apostolic Church logo.svg , icon_width = 100px , icon_alt = , image = Էջմիածնի_Մայր_Տաճար.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , a ...

and

Collegiants In Christian history, the Collegiants ( la, Collegiani; nl, Collegianten), also called Collegians, were an association, founded in 1619 among the Arminians and Anabaptists in Holland. They were so called because of their colleges (meetings) hel ...

. In 1728 ''Les Césars de l'empereur Julien, traduits du grec par feu Mr. le Baron de Spanheim, avec des remarques & des preuves, enrichies de plus de 300 médailles, & autres anciens monumens, gravés par Bernard Picart le Romain'' was published. In 1729 he collaborated with

Louis Fabricius Dubourg Louis Fabricius Dubourg or Louis Fabritius du Bourg was an historical and Stadstekenacademie, Amsterdam, academic painter of arcadia (region), arcadian landscapes, and an engraving, engraver. Life His parents Jean du Bourg(h) and Elisabeth Burl ...

. At some time (1718?) Picart opened an engraving school. His pupils included Jacob Folkema, Jakob van der Schley (who portrayed him posthumously), Pieter Tanjé and François Morellon la Cave, who all used his drawings for engravings. According to

RKD The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: RKD-Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center i ...

, Johann Philipp Endelich (?–1760) was also a pupil. In 1723/1726 Anna Yver, his mother-in-law and two of her children lived at

Rokin The Rokin is a canal and major street in the centre of Amsterdam. The street runs from Muntplein, Amsterdam, Muntplein square to Dam Square, Dam square. The Rokin canal used to run from Muntplein square to Dam Square, but in 1936, the part between ...

; Picart may have used most floors for drawing or engraving and storing paper. In 1731 he published a reprint originally by his father (Le Romain).De Amsterdamse boekhandel 1680-1725. Deel 4. Gegevens over de vervaardigers, hun internationale relaties en de uitgaven N-W, papierhandel, drukkerijen en boekverkopers in het algemeen (1967)–Isabella Henriëtte van Eeghen
/ref> Picart was buried in the

Walloon Church, Amsterdam The Walloon Church (Dutch: ''Waalse Kerk''; French: ''Église Wallonne'') is a Protestant church building in Amsterdam, along the southern stretch of the Oudezijds Achterburgwal canal. The building dates to the late 15th century and has been i ...

on 13 May 1733. After his death the widow ordered her three daughters to keep his collection of drawings together but sell the prints at an auction and the copperplates in Paris.De Amsterdamse boekhandel 1680-1725. Deel 4. Gegevens over de vervaardigers, hun internationale relaties en de uitgaven N-W, papierhandel, drukkerijen en boekverkopers in het algemeen (1967)–Isabella Henriëtte van Eeghen
/ref> In 1734 she published ''Impostures innocentes, ou recueil d'estampes d'après divers peintres illustres tels que Raphaël, Le Guide, Carlo Maratta, Le Poussin, Rembrandt, etc., gravées à leur imitation et selon le goût particulier de chacun d'eux, et accompagnées d'un discours sur les préjugés de certains curieux touchant la gravure, par Bernard Picart, dessinateur et graveur, avec son éloge historique et le catalogue de ses ouvrages, Veuve de Bernard Picart, Amsterdam.'' The inventory (on 12 March 1736) mentioned around 400 portfolios with copperplates, books, drawings, paper, 54 paintings (not specified), jewellery and bonds. The website of the

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...

in Amsterdam has more than 2,000 works online by Bernard Picart.

Works

Most of his work was book-illustrations, for which he collaborated with local artists like

Gerard Hoet Gerard Hoet (; 22 August 1648 – 2 December 1733) was a Dutch Golden Age painter and engraver. Biography Gerard Hoet trained with his father and brother who were glass painters, and Warnard van Rijsen, who lived in Zaltbommel, and who hi ...

and

Arnold Houbraken Arnold Houbraken (28 March 1660 – 14 October 1719) was a Dutch painter and writer from Dordrecht, now remembered mainly as a biographer of Dutch Golden Age painters. Life Houbraken was sent first to learn ''threadtwisting'' (Twyndraat) fr ...

. The illustrations were used in various publications including the '' Figures de la Bible'' (1720) and the '' Taferelen der voornaamste geschiedenissen van het Oude en Nieuwe Testament'' (1728). The latter was a picture bible comprising 214 large engravings of which

Gilliam van der Gouwen Gilliam van der Gouwen, first name also transcribed as Guilliam and Willem (ca. 1657, Antwerp — buried on 15 March 1716, Amsterdam)P. van der Coelen, ''De ontstaansgeschiedenis van de prentenbijbel van Hoet, Houbraken en Picart''
in: E. Buijsen e.a. (red.), Kunst op papier in de achttiende eeuw/Art on Paper in the Eighteenth Century. Liber Amicorum aangeboden aan Charles Dumas ter gelegenheid van zijn 65ste verjaardag, Zoetermeer 2014, p. 48-61; p. 51 From 1720 Picart collaborated on the ''Cérémonies'' with the son of a Protestant minister , with a commitment to

religious toleration Religious toleration may signify "no more than forbearance and the permission given by the adherents of a dominant religion for other religions to exist, even though the latter are looked on with disapproval as inferior, mistaken, or harmful". ...

Jonathan I. Israel Jonathan Irvine Israel (born 26 January 1946) is a British writer and academic specialising in Dutch history, the Age of Enlightenment and European Jews. Israel was appointed as Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the School of Historical Studies a ...

calls ''Cérémonies'' "an immense effort to record the religious rituals and beliefs of the world in all their diversity as objectively and authentically as possible". Although Picart had never left Europe, he relied on accounts by those who had and had access to a collection of Indian sculpture. The original French edition of ''Cérémonies'' comprises ten volumes of text and 266 engravings.

"Cérémonies" engravings

* Vol. 1: Asie, Afrique and Amérique – 30 engravings (1727) * Vol. 2 – 33 engravings (1727) * Vol. 3 – 19 engravings (1728) * Vol. 4 – 14 engravings (1729) * Vol. 5 – 26 engravings (1736) * Vol. 6 – 45 engravings (1738) * Vol. 7 – 58 engravings * Vol. 8 – 5 engravings * Vol. 9 – 24 engravings * Vol. 10 – 12 engravings

The Temple of the Muses

This was an illustrated book of

Ovid's Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the w ...

more popular fables published in 1733 in Dutch (''Tempel der zanggodinnen, vertoond in LX heerlijke kunststukken, behelzende alle de voornaemste geschiedenissen van de Fabel-Oudheid''), in 1738 in English (''The Temple of the Muses, or, the principal histories of fabulous antiquity''), and in 1742 in French (''Le Temple des Muses, orné de LX tableaux où sont représentés les événemens les plus remarquables de l'antiquité fabuleuse''), by Zacharias Chatelain. The engravings had captions in French, English, German, and Dutch. The artists involved were

Michel de Marolles Michel de Marolles (22 July 1600, Genillé - 6 March 1681, Paris), known as the abbé de Marolles, was a French churchman and translator, known for his collection of old master prints. He became a monk in 1610 and later was abbot of Villeloin ( ...

, Bernard Picart, Jacques Favereau, Abraham van Diepenbeeck, and

Cornelis Bloemaert Cornelis Bloemaert II (1603 – 28 September 1692), was a Dutch Golden Age painter and engraver. Biography Bloemaert was born at Utrecht. He studied with his father, Abraham Bloemaert, his brothers Hendrick and Adriaan, and his father's pupi ...

. A facsimile of the Dutch version was published in 1968.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Grafton, Anthony. "A Jewel of a Thousand Facets." ''

New York Review of Books New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

'' (June 10, 2010) Vol. LVII, number 11. Page 38–40
Online summary
*

Lynn Hunt Lynn Avery Hunt (born November 16, 1945) is the Eugen Weber Professor of Modern European History at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her area of expertise is the French Revolution, but she is also well known for her work in European cu ...

Margaret Jacob Margaret Jacob (born 1943) is an American historian of science and Distinguished Professor of Research at UCLA. She specializes in the history of science, knowledge, the Enlightenment and Freemasonry. Life Margaret C. Jacob was born (1943) and ...

and Wijnand Mijnhardt (2010) ''The Book That Changed Europe: Picart and Bernard's "Religious Ceremonies of the World"'' (Harvard University Press). * Hunt, Lynn and Margaret Jacob and Wijnand Mijnhardt (2010). Bernard Picart and the First Global Vision of Religion. Los Angeles:

Getty Research Institute The Getty Research Institute (GRI), located at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, is "dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts".

br>
*Wyss-Giacosa, Paola von (2006). ''Religionsbilder der frühen Aufklärung : Bernard Picarts Tafeln für die Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples du monde''. Wabern (Switzerland): Benteli, 2006. See also Margaret Jacob, 'The Radical Enlightenment' (London:George Allen & Unwin, 1981). * Israel, Jonathan I. (2001) ''Radical enlightenment: philosophy and the making of modernity, 1650–1750''. Oxford University Press. *Jacob, Margaret (2005) ''Bernard Picart and the Turn to Modernity'', De Achttiende eeuw, vol. 37, 2005, pp. 1–16.

External links

Bernard Picart and Jean Frederic Bernard'
''Religious Ceremonies and Customs of the World''
on

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

website. {{DEFAULTSORT:Picart, Bernard 1673 births 1733 deaths Converts to Protestantism Artists from Paris French printmakers French engravers