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Article Les musiciens champêtres (Country musicians) by Jacques Dassonville, or Dassonneville, painter and etcher, 1619-ca. 1670

Detail from Les musiciens champêtres (Country musicians) by Jacques Dassonville, 17th century
Detail from Les musiciens champêtres (Country musicians) by Jacques Dassonville, 17th century. Dayton C. Miller Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress.

This small etching represents a country scene in which an old man sits beneath a tree and plays a bagpipe while a young boy plays a duct flute or a small shawm, though in a translation from a French text given below, he is described as playing an hautbois (oboe). Behind the boy is another man who looks down at a child whose face is just visible above the boy's shoulder at the far left. The bagpiper sits on a grassy mound with his back against a tree at the far right, a branch of which extends over his head along the top edge of the scene. The musicians wear tattered, rough clothing of country folk -- shirt, vest, knee breeches, loose hose, and sabots. Both the old man and the boy wear hats with the brims turned upward at the back, the old man's hat, perhaps having a small feather. The man in the background at the left also wears a hat, but it shadows his face as he looks down toward the child next to him.

This etching is described in A.-P.-F. Robert-Dumesnil, Le Peintre-Graveur Français, ou Catalogue Raisonné des Estampes gravées par les peintres et les dessinateurs de l'école française. Paris: G. Warée, 1835-1871. 11 vols. The entry for this work appears in vol. 1 (1835), p. 174, no. 8 as follows, in translation: "An old man with a turned up hat, adorned with a cock's feather, sits with his legs crossed on a bank of grass, at the foot of an oak, at the right. He plays a musette [bagpipe], accompanied by a young child who plays an hautbois [oboe]. Behind this child, in the background at the left, a tramp, standing, seems to take pleasure in this concert. Piece in the style of Callot, with a blank backgound. In the foreground, at the left: I. Dassonneuille fecit."[1]

Collector's mark of the Arenberg family of Brussels
Collector's mark of the Arenberg family of Brussels

There are two oval stamps on the verso of this etching. One, in blue, at the lower left edge, is based on the heraldic device of the Arenberg family of Brussels and Nordkirchen (Westphalia). The text around the border of the oval, CH. PROTECTOR MEUS, refers to the family motto: "Christus protector meus." The three "stars" in the center represent the medlar rose, in gold, on the family crest. The dukes of Arenberg were great patrons of the arts since the 16th century. They commissioned and collected paintings, tapestries, sculpture and prints. It was Duke Louis-Engelbert (1750-1820) who contributed greatly to the print collection of this family. It was he who gathered many important prints and drawings on trips to France, Italy and Switzerland in 1789 and 1791. Duke Engelbert-Marie (1872-1949) had the family collection reviewed by P. Mathey of Paris in 1902 and more than 40,000 prints were sold in 669 lots at Christies in London on the 14 of July 1902 (and following days), though many of the finest prints remained in the family. Perhaps the Dassonville etching in the Miller collection was part of that sale.

Collector's mark of Charles-Edouard Mewes
Collector's mark of Charles-Frédéric Mewes

At some point this etching must have also been part of the collection of Charles-Frédéric Mewes (1858-1914), an architect who collected 17th-century prints. This is known because of the second oval stamp on the verso of the Dassonville etching, in red. Though the name is illegible, it apparently reads: "MEWES." Charles-Edouard Mewes (1889-1968), the son of Charles-Frédéric Mewes, sold his father's collection in several stages. Some went to a Swiss print dealer in Zurich, Galerie L'Art Ancien. Miller purchased the Dassonville etching from Paul Ritti, a bookseller in Paris, in 1928, but the earlier dates of the provenance of this etching -- when it entered and left the Arenberg collection and when it entered and left the Mewes collection -- require further research.[2]

About the Artist

Jacques Dassonville, or Dassonneville, painter and etcher, 1619-ca. 1670
Very little is known about Jacques Dassonville, who signed his name variously with a monogram, "DJS," as "J. Dasson," or "J. Da Sonneville," but most often as "Dassonneville." Jacques Dassonville was born in Saint-Ouen, near Rouen, in 1619, according to Bénézit. His death date of ca. 1670 and additional biographical information are provided by Veronique Meyer cited below. He was said to be a painter, etcher and writer. However, he may have been Flemish, born in Antwerp, rather than French. His oeuvre was apparently very small -- only 65 plates -- all of which are on a very small scale. Like the Miller print, most are genre scenes reminiscent of David Teniers (1610-1690) or Adriaen van Ostade (1610-1685).[3]

Notes

  1. Original text: "8. Les Musiciens champêtres. Vieillard au bonnet haut, à retroussis, orné d'une plume de coq, assis les jambes croisées sur un banc de gazon, au pied d'un chêne, à droite. Il joue de la musette, accompagné par un jeune enfant qui joue du hautbois. Derrière de cet enfant, au fond de la gauche, un gueux, debout, paraît prendre plaisir à ce concert. Pièce dans le goût de Callot, et dont le fond est blanc. Sur la terrasse, à gauche: I. Dassonneuille fecit." A biography of Dassonville and a catalogue of his other works can be found in the same source, vol. 1, pp. 167-191. An additional list of Dassonville's works can be found in vol. 11, which is a supplement by Georges Duplessis to the 10 volumes by Robert-Dumesnil, pp. 49-55. This etching is also listed in Roger-Armand Weigert, Inventaire du Fonds Français: Graveurs du XVIIe siècle. Paris: Bibliotheque Nationale, 1939-<1993>. 17 vols. It is listed in vol. 3, p. 317, no. 8 as Les musiciens champêtres. National Gallery of Art Library, call number: NE647.P34. [back to article]
  2. The identity of the two stamps on the verso of this etching is through the courtesy of Mme Rhea Blok, Curator, Collection Frits Lugt, 121 rue de Lille, 75007 Paris. Mme Blok kindly sent the entry by Frits Lugt on the Collection d'Arenberg, no. L.567, from Lugt's Les Marques de collections de dessins & d'estampes, published in Amsterdam in 1921. This is an extensive entry and lists many of the draughtsmen, etchers and engravers collected by the Arenberg family. A supplement to Les Marques... was published in 1956, but the Fondation Frits Lugt published a new supplement in 2010, which includes an entry for the collection of Charles-Frédéric Mewes (1858-1914), and his son, Charles-Edouard Mewes (1889-1968), no. L.4171. [back to article]
  3. See Véronique Meyer, "Dassonville, Jacques," in Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online External Link (subscription only). [back to article]

About this Item

Title

  • Les musiciens champêtres (Country musicians) by Jacques Dassonville, or Dassonneville, painter and etcher, 1619-ca. 1670

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  • -  Articles
  • -  Songs and Music

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  • article

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Lesmusiciens champêtres Country musicians by Jacques Dassonville, or Dassonneville, painter and etcher, 1619. Web.. https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200182896/.

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Lesmusiciens champêtres Country musicians by Jacques Dassonville, or Dassonneville, painter and etcher, 1619. [Web.] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200182896/.

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Lesmusiciens champêtres Country musicians by Jacques Dassonville, or Dassonneville, painter and etcher, 1619. Web.. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200182896/>.