La Fortresse de Montmélian, prise par Monsieur De Catinat

Artist Sebastian LeClerc French, 1637 - 1714

Date1695

MediumEngraving on laid paper

DimensionsSheet: 7 1/4 x 10 15/16 in. (18.4 x 27.8 cm)

ClassificationsPrints

Credit LineGift in memory of Leon H. and Marie Buttlar Sparling by their family

Object number2008.20.20

On View

Not on view

Collections

Works on Paper

Signed"S. le Clerc ƒ" engraved in cursive, upper and lower case, LL (within image border)

Inscribed"LA FORTERESSE DE MONTMELIAN/Prise par Monsr [superscript r with dot below] de Catinat le 21. Dec. 1691" engraved below the center of the image outside the border, within the plate mark, the first line is printed, the second line in cursive. Typed on a former mat and cut and mounted inside the new mat "orginal copper engraving/SEBASTIAN le CLERC/18th century, French" Written in pencil, block lettering, LR inner mat "Sebastian Le Clerc/Fortress of Montmelian"

Markings"KM" in a circle stamped in purple ink, probably a collectors mark. Notes from appraisal dated 9/22/2008 by Armin Kunz of C.G. Boerner, NYC state that this mark is not found in Lugt, the standard reference on print collectors marks.

DescriptionA wheeled chassis (triumphal car) with the depiction of a fort atop a steep, rocky mountainside. Standing on the front of the rocks a weeping figure of a woman (representing mourning for the troops lost?) and below her an urn with a fountain of water. On the side of the vehicle is a classical trophy of war with a shield, cannon and other weapons. The vehicle is pulled by 17 men and pushed from behind by three more. An angel of victory wearing a laurel wreath on her head and blowing a trumpet flies above the scene carrying the flag or banner of Savoy. The architectural background (probably the Louvre Palace or possibly Versailles) of large arched niches with classical statuary and a single glazed window is populated by ranks of onlookers behind a draped railing and by others at the base of the niches behind valances deocrated with the fleur-de-lis.

The subject of the print is a passing in review or parade with a representation of the Fortress at Montmélian which had been surrendered on December 21, 1691 by the Italians to Nicholas Cantinat, a general in the army of Louis XIV, Montmélian was a mountaintop walled town in the Savoy area in the southeast of present day France. Montmélian was the only part of the Duchy of Savoy that the French did not win in the Battle of Staffarda in August 1690, during the Nine Years' War. However, these losses along with others in that theatre of war operations led to the surrender in the following year. One source records that "The importance of the possession of Montmélian was fully realised in Paris, and Te Deums were sung in the churches on reception of the news." (See file)
Exhibition History"Old Master Prints from the Sparling Family Collection", Hoopes Gallery, The Hyde Collection, February 28 - May 24, 2009.ProvenanceBefore 1938, New York, NY, William Randolph Hearst (according to Richard Helbig)
By 1941, New York, NY, Gimbels Department Store (according to Richard Helbig)
New York, NY, Richard Helbig
2006, Houston, TX, Tobin Sparling
2008, Glens Falls, NY, The Hyde Collection Trust