CARROUSEL COURSES DE TETES

Modern proof printed on Hahnemühle paper, 300 gr.

The first plates commissioned by Colbert fix for history the Grand Carrousel, a superb celebration offered to the Parisians on 5 and 6 June 1662 on the occasion of the birth of the Dauphin. Five quadrilles paraded from the rue de Richelieu to the Tuileries where "races of heads and rings" took place. Thus the Place du Carrousel was born. The representation of this festival, engraved in ninety plates, was commissioned from three great engravers, including Israël Silvestre. A text by Charles Perrault accompanies these images.

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.
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