Jean Baptiste Martin costume design engravings
Overview
Hand-colored engravings of costume designs by French designer, Jean Baptiste Martin.
Dates
- Creation: 1763-1779
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in French.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material.
Extent
.5 linear feet (1 box)14 hand-colored costume design engravings from the set designed and engraved by Martin: Cahier de Costumes de Théâtre and for the later version Gallerie des modes et costumes français, dessinés d’après nature. Most are matted.
Biographical / Historical
Jean Baptiste Martin was a French costume designer. Few facts are known about him: he was the immediate successor of François Boucher at the Paris Opéra from July 1748 until 1757 or 1758... He designed costumes for opéras-ballets by Rameau and revivals of Lully and Charpentier. The Mercure reported, in July 1763, the appearance of Martin’s Collection de figures theatrales (20 colored engravings), ‘six years after he retired’. They portray Driade, Indienne, Incas, Hercule, Flore, Paysan, Paysanne, Suivante de Flore, Suivante de Zéphire, Zéphire, Africain, Apollon, Démon, Faune, Furie, Médée, Neptune, Paysan galant, Paysanne galante, and Thétis. The last ten were reworked to conform to the fashion 16 years later and, with six new designs (Chinois, Chinoise, Silphide, Silphe, Reine des sylphes, Vénus), were printed in Gallerie des modes et costumes français, dessinés d’après nature (1779). Martin’s work is said to have inspired many later designers. Source: Grove Music Online, 2010.
Arrangement
Arranged in alphabetical order by title of design.
Physical Location
b
Immediate Source of Acquisition
No accession number. Source and date unknown.
Processing Information
Processed by: Bonnie B. Salt
- Title
- Martin, Jean Baptiste, fl. 1748-1757. Jean Baptiste Martin costume design engravings, circa 1763-1779: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou02091
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
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