Johann Ludwig Wernhard Fäsch drawings of actors and actresses
Overview
Watercolor drawings on vellum of actors and actresses in Paris, by Swiss artist Johann Ludwig Wernhard Fäsch.
Dates
- Creation: 1768
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)27 watercolor and graphite miniature drawings on vellum from 1768. Some appear to also include gouache and varnish. All are unsigned and have no location specified on the items, but all are from performances at theaters in Paris, France. Each drawing is pasted onto a board, some are matted. All include manuscript labels (on vellum) either pasted onto verso of board or pasted onto separate pressboard.
Subjects of the drawings are actors and actresses in various roles from the Comédie-Française, Comédie-Italienne (Paris, France), and Théâtre-Italien (Paris, France). Full name of actor is supplied if known.
Biographical / Historical
Fäsch was a Swiss painter, illustrator, miniaturist, and portraitist, born in Basel circa 1738 and died in Paris in 1778. Fäsch studied law but soon became a painter. He later moved to Paris and also completed portraits in London. He was known under a number of names including: Jean Louis Fesch and Johann Ludwig Wernhard Faesch, as well as de Fesch, Foech, and Foesch. Fäsch is the first artist to be said with certainty to have drawn his subjects directly from actual performance.
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by title.
Physical Location
b
Immediate Source of Acquisition
76M-67. Purchased with the F. E. Chase fund from Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd., 43 Old Bond Street, London WIX 4BA, England and William H. Schab Gallery, Inc., 37 West 57th Street, New York, New York 10019; received: 1976 July 13 and November 15.
Processing Information
Processed by: Bonnie B. Salt
- Title
- Fäsch, Johann Ludwig Wernhard, circa 1738-1778. Johann Ludwig Wernhard Fäsch drawings of actors and actresses, 1768: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou02128
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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