Fine large half-length portrait engraving by Jean-Louis Roullet (1645-1699) after Paulus Mignard (1639–1691) of the distinguished composer in formal dress holding a rolled musical manuscript
Paris: Se vend à Paris rue St. Jacques chez la veuve Audran aux 2 Piliers dor, [ca. 1680-90].
Portrait within oval border lettered with Lully's name and position, 6 lines of laudatory verse on a decorative cloth draped over a plinth below. Plate impression 515 x 348 mm. + wide margins, sheet size 558 x 420 mm.
Light to moderate foxing, not affecting portrait.
Second state, later impression, undated, distinguished by the addition of the publisher's name and address at lower right corner and the privilege statement added below the engraver's name. BnF Notice no. FRBNF39623338. Collection Musicale André Meyer, Vol. II, plate 147 (before letters, with the engraver given as Edelinck). Yale University Art Gallery Accession Number: 1984.54.151.
"Lully, regarded throughout Enlightenment Europe as the leading figure in French music, created a style which was truly his own, drawing on many sources which he was probably better able to assimilate than anyone else in his time. The language he forged, and to which he sometimes brought exceptional breadth, could leave no one indifferent, and it still attracts audiences today with its power, clarity, equilibrium, coherence, poetry and exquisite sensitivity." Jérôme de La Gorce in Grove Music Online
An attractive early engraving of the composer.
Item #39806
Price: $850.00 other currencies