The Ultimes are prints made from the original etching plates in the Chalcographie collection at the Musée du Louvre before they were put into storage for preservation reasons.
For reasons of preservation, it was decided to stop printing plates engraved before 1848. Before they left the Ateliers to go into the Louvre's reserves, some were printed one last time. These are the last ones. Each print is dated, numbered and stamped, and is sold with a certificate of authenticity, in a limited edition of 10.
Jacques Rigaud (1680-1754) arrived in Paris in 1720, where he began his career as an engraver. He mainly published views engraved from his drawings.
Ten years later, he began the work to which he devoted his entire life and which his nephew Jean-Baptiste completed: Les Maisons Royales de France. His views of Paris and the royal houses continued the topographical work and architectural surveys begun by Israël Sylvestre and commissioned by Louis XIV for his Cabinet, a collection of prints comprising over a thousand plates and intended to glorify royal power.
Rigaud's prints depict royal and princely châteaux, seascapes and festive scenes, and are part of a series that includes more than a hundred prints.
This print shows a general view of the colonnaded pool, built by Mansart in 1685, at the centre of which is L'Enlèvement de Proserpine par Pluton (The Abduction of Proserpine by Pluto). The grove is depicted as a meeting place for the Court, allowing Rigaud to demonstrate his precision, both in the architectural details and in those of the costumes and figures.
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