Baron Desgenettes, French Military Physician, Lithograph by Maurin, circa 1830
€ 175
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
circa 1830
Mapmaker / artist
A. Maurin (lithographer)
Publisher
Imprimé par Godard (printer); publisher not named on the sheet
Technique
Lithograph
Coloring
Uncolored
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-14343-28
What the condition grades mean
Excellent
Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good
Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good
Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair
Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.
Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.
Condition
Good condition for its age. Toning and a few spots to the margins; uneven, lightly chipped edges and a diagonal crease across the lower left corner. Please review the images for further condition details.
About this sheet
An original lithographed portrait of Baron Desgenettes, identified by the facsimile signature "Le Bon Desgenettes" written in a large flowing hand beneath the image. The lithographer's signature "A. Maurin" is drawn on the stone at lower right, and the printer's line "Imprimé par Godard" appears at lower left.
The sitter is shown half length, turned slightly to the left, an elderly man with thick white hair and side whiskers. He wears a high collared coat covered with dense embroidered foliage, of the kind worn by members of the Institut and senior officials, with a lace jabot and the cross of an order hanging at his breast. The likeness is drawn in soft crayon on the stone, with the face carefully modeled and the coat and its embroidery worked in rich, dark detail.
René Nicolas Dufriche, Baron Desgenettes (1762 to 1837), was chief physician of Bonaparte's army in Egypt and Syria, where he became famous for inoculating himself to calm the troops' fear of plague at Jaffa. He later served as physician in chief of the Grande Armée through the campaigns of the Empire, was made a baron, and taught at the Faculty of Medicine in Paris.
Antoine Maurin (1793 to 1860) was one of the most prolific portrait lithographers of the Restoration and the July Monarchy in Paris, and his likenesses of statesmen, soldiers, scientists and artists were issued singly and in series for a wide public. Lithography gave the portrait the softness of a chalk drawing, and the facsimile signature added beneath it was a popular way of presenting a famous sitter in his own hand.
This is a fine portrait for collectors of the history of medicine, of the Napoleonic era and of French lithography, and it would suit a doctor's office, a study or a library.
This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.
