JEAN-MARIE MIXELLE
1758 - Paris - 1839
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Geneviève Attendrisssant Ses Assassins [Genevieve begging her assassins] - 1792
Copper engraving after Thestrokes. Size of sheet: 55 x 42.5 cm. Lettered in the plate: ‘Thestrokes delin. / Geneviève Attendrisssant Ses Assassins / J. Mixelle Sculp. / A Paris chez Mixelle, rue Christine Dauphine No.5’, together with the passage from Berquin’s “L’Innnocence reconue”.
Richly inked impression of this extremely rare print, trimmed to the borderline or slightly within. In a very good condition, though there is some staining and browning of paper in the margins.
Jean-Marie Mixelle: Geneviève Attendrisssant Ses Assassins
It was advertised in ‘Intelligenzblatt der Allgemeinen Literatur Zeitung von Jahre 1793’ (Number 23, 16 March 1793).
The print is based on Berquin’s passage from his “L’Innocence reconnue” (published 1776). The story is taken from a famous medieval legend of the life of Genevieve of Brabant from the “Golden Legend” and concerns a virtuous wife falsely accused of infidelity. The Genevieve tale first obtained wide popularity in L'Innocence reconnue, ou vie de Sainte Genevieve de Brabant by the Jesuit René de Cerisiers (1603–1662). Arnaud Berquin (French, 1749-1791), a famous French author of books for children, put the story into a romance.
Jean-Marie Mixelle spent the majority of his life in Paris, honing his craft. He became renowned for his exceptional skill and dedication to the art of engraving during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His career coincided with a period of significant social and political upheaval in France, including the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. Despite the tumultuous events of the time, he continued to produce engravings that reflected the cultural and artistic currents of the era.
Our print, with its sombre subject-matter reflects the political situation at the time in France, with the Revolution and la Terreur that followed. Genevieve of Brabant is traced back to a cult of Saint Genevieve - the patron saint of Paris.
Very rare.