Bernard Picart or Picard (11 June 1673 – 8 May 1733), was a French draughtsman, engraver, and book illustrator in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, who showed an interest in cultural and religious habits.

Life

Picart was born in

rue Saint-Jacques, Paris The Rue Saint-Jacques () is a street in the Latin Quarter of Paris. History Formerly lying along the ''cardo'' of Roman Lutetia, this street was a main axial road of medieval Paris, as the buildings that still front it attest. It is the histori ...

as son of Etienne Picart, a famous engraver. In 1689, he studied drawing and architecture at the

Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture The Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture (; ) was founded in 1648 in Paris, France. It was the premier art institution of France during the latter part of the Ancien Régime until it was abolished in 1793 during the French Revolution. I ...

. He was taught by

Charles le Brun Charles Le Brun (; baptised 24 February 1619 – 12 February 1690) was a French Painting, painter, Physiognomy, physiognomist, Aesthetics, art theorist, and a director of several art schools of his time. He served as a court painter to Louis XIV, ...

, along with

Benoît Audran the Elder Benoît Audran the Elder (23 November 1661 – 3 September 1721) was a French engraver. The second son of Germain Audran, he was born at Lyons. He received his first instruction in the art of engraving from his father; but had afterwards the adv ...

Sébastien Leclerc Sébastien Leclerc or Le Clerc ( aptized26 September 1637— 25 October 1714) was a French artist from the Lorraine (duchy), Duchy of Lorraine. He specialized in subtle reproductive drawings, etchings, and engravings of paintings; and worked m ...

and

Antoine Coypel Antoine Coypel (; 11 April 16617 January 1722) was a French painter, pastellist, engraver, decorative designer and draughtsman.Grove Art, accessed 26 May 2007
/ref> He took over his father's workshop. From 1702 on, he was editor of

playwrights A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between characters and is intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. Ben Jonson coined the term "playwrigh ...

written by himself or the other members of Nil volentibus arduum. After his wife, Cloudina Pros, the daughter of a bookseller, and their children died, he settled in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

together with Prosper Marchand in January 1710. There Picart, Marchand and

Charles Levier Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was ...

belonged to a "radical Huguenot coterie", who studied the works of

John Locke John Locke (; 29 August 1632 (Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) – 28 October 1704 (Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.)) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of the Enlightenment thi ...

, which promoted the separation of

church and state The separation of church and state is a philosophical and Jurisprudence, jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the State (polity), state. Conceptually, the term refers to ...

. They joined the

Walloon church A Walloon church (French: ''Église Wallonne''; Dutch: ''Waalse kerk'') describes any Calvinist church in the Netherlands and its former colonies whose members originally came from the Southern Netherlands (what is now Belgium) and northern Franc ...

but were influenced by

Jean Claude Jean Claude (; 1619 – 13 January 1687) was a French Reformed theologian. Biography Claude was born in La Sauvetat-du-Dropt near Agen. After studying at Montauban, Jean Claude entered the ministry in 1645. For eight years he was professor of ...

and

Pierre Bayle Pierre Bayle (; 18 November 1647 – 28 December 1706) was a French philosopher, author, and lexicographer. He is best known for his '' Historical and Critical Dictionary'', whose publication began in 1697. Many of the more controversial ideas ...

who both fled to the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, commonly referred to in historiography as the Dutch Republic, was a confederation that existed from 1579 until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. It was a predecessor state of the present-day Netherlands ...

in earlier years. Picart accepted a commission to draw prints for the Bible. He and Marchand moved to Amsterdam in 1711 (later being joined by his father

Étienne Picart Étienne, a French analog of Stephen or Steven, is a masculine given name. An archaic variant of the name, prevalent up to the mid-17th century, is Estienne. Étienne, Etienne, Ettiene or Ettienne may refer to: People Artists and entertainers * ...

(le Romain).

Amsterdam

In April 1712 he married Anna Vincent (1684–1736) in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

, the marriage was assisted by her father Ysbrand Vincent (1642–1718) who had initially disagreed with the marriage. Ysbrand was a rich paper seller, who moved to France but fled in 1686.

Levinus Vincent Levinus Vincent the Younger, (1658 in Amsterdam – 8 November 1727 in Haarlem) was a rich Dutch designer of patterns and merchant of luxurious textiles, such as damask, silk and brocade.Colenbrander, S. (2010). Zolang de weefkunst bloeit : zijde ...

became his uncle, a

Mennonite Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...

who owned a

cabinet of curiosities Cabinets of curiosities ( and ), also known as wonder-rooms ( ), were encyclopedic collections of objects whose categorical boundaries were, in Renaissance Europe, yet to be defined. Although more rudimentary collections had preceded them, t ...

in Haarlem. Picart moved in with his father-in-law and designed several

book frontispiece A frontispiece in books is a decorative or informative illustration facing a book's title page, usually on the left-hand, or verso, page opposite the right-hand, or recto page of a book. In some ancient editions or in modern luxury editions the f ...

s. Picart lived across the Old Lutheran Church but also close to a Mennonite Church. In May 1713 the couple had male twins, who both died within a few weeks; he portrayed them both. Picart became a

citizen Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationality ...

, joined the guild and published a book about his teacher Charles Le Brun. His three daughters were baptized in

Westerkerk The Westerkerk (; ) is a Calvinism, Reformed church within Protestant Church in the Netherlands, Dutch Protestant Calvinism in central Amsterdam, Netherlands. It lies in the most western part of the Grachtengordel (Amsterdam), Grachtengordel nei ...

. Picart may have had a better understanding of the

Dutch language Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language and is the List of languages by total number of speak ...

. He collaborated with

Cornelis de Bruyn Cornelis de Bruijn or Cornelius de Bruyn (; 16521726/7), also formerly known in English by his French name Corneille Le Brun, was a Dutch artist and traveler. He made two large tours and published illustrated books with his observations of peop ...

on the frontispiece of ''Reizen over Moskovie, door Persie en Indie'', published in 1718 as ''Voyages de Corneille le Brun par la Moscovie, en Perse, et aux Indes Occidentales''. At some time Picart opened an engraving school. His pupils included

Jacob Folkema Jacob Folkema (18 August 1692 – 3 February 1767), a Dutch designer and engraver, was born and died at Dokkum, in Friesland. He was first instructed by his father, Johann Jakob Folkema, a goldsmith, and studied afterwards under B. Picart at Amste ...

Jakob van der Schley Jakob van der Schley aka Jakob van Schley (26 July 1715 Amsterdam – 7 February 1779 Amsterdam) was a Dutch draughtsman and engraver. He studied under Bernard Picart (1673-1733) whose style he subsequently copied. His main interests were engravi ...

(who portrayed him posthumously), Pieter Tanjé and

François Morellon la Cave image:Zelfportret van François Morellon La Cave, RP-P-1910-1822.jpg, François Morellon la Cave (15 April 1696 – 9 July 1768) was a painter and engraver of French origin active in Amsterdam. Life Morellon la Cave had Huguenot origins and ...

, who all used his drawings for engravings. According to

RKD The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: ), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center in the world. The center specializes in document ...

, Johann Philipp Endelich (?–1760) was also a pupil. In 1723/1726 Anna Yver, his mother-in-law and two of her children lived at

Rokin The Rokin is a canal and major street in the centre of Amsterdam. The street runs from Muntplein, Amsterdam, Muntplein square to Dam Square, Dam square. The Rokin canal used to run from Muntplein square to Dam Square, but in 1936, the part between ...

; Picart may have used most floors for teaching drawing and engraving or storing paper. Picart was buried in the nearby

Walloon Church, Amsterdam The Walloon Church (Dutch: ''Waalse Kerk''; French: ''Église Wallonne'') is a Protestant church building in Amsterdam, along the southern stretch of the Oudezijds Achterburgwal canal. The building dates to the late 15th century and has been in ...

on 13 May 1733.

Collaboration

In 1724, he worked with

Philipp von Stosch Baron Philipp von Stosch or Philippe de Stosch etc. (22 March 1691 – 7 November 1757) was a Kingdom of Prussia, Prussian antiquarian who lived in Rome and Florence. He is mainly remembered for his huge collection of engraved gems, now most ...

, a Prussian antiquarian, whose ''Gemmæ Antiquæ Cælatæ (Pierres antiques graveés)'', Picart's engravings reproduced 70 antique carved hardstones such as

onyx Onyx is a typically black-and-white banded variety of agate, a silicate mineral. The bands can also be monochromatic with alternating light and dark bands. ''Sardonyx'' is a variety with red to brown bands alternated with black or white bands. ...

jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases, is an opaque, impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue. The common red color is due to ...

and

carnelian Carnelian (also spelled cornelian) is a brownish-red mineral commonly used as a semiprecious stone. Similar to carnelian is sard, which is generally harder and darker; the difference is not rigidly defined, and the two names are often used int ...

from European collections, a volume of inestimable value to antiquarians and historians. His most famous work is ''Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples du monde'', appearing from 1723 to 1743 and in collaboration with Jean Frédéric Bernard, a successful author and publisher who promoted

religious tolerance Religious tolerance or religious toleration may signify "no more than forbearance and the permission given by the adherents of a dominant religion for other religions to exist, even though the latter are looked on with disapproval as inferior, ...

and

gallicanism Gallicanism is the belief that popular secular authority—often represented by the monarch's or the state's authority—over the Catholic Church is comparable to that of the pope. Gallicanism is a rejection of ultramontanism; it has something ...

. Because of the many prints it also seems he sympathized with

Jansenists Jansenism was a 17th- and 18th-century theological movement within Roman Catholicism, primarily active in France, which arose as an attempt to reconcile the theological concepts of free will and divine grace in response to certain development ...

, the

Armenian Apostolic Church The Armenian Apostolic Church () is the Autocephaly, autocephalous national church of Armenia. Part of Oriental Orthodoxy, it is one of the most ancient Christianity, Christian churches. The Armenian Apostolic Church, like the Armenian Catholic ...

and

Collegiants In Christian history, the Collegiants (; ), also called Collegians, were an association, founded in 1619 among the Arminians and Anabaptists in Holland. They were so called because of their colleges (meetings) held the first Sunday of each month ...

. In 1728 ''Les Césars de l'empereur Julien, traduits du grec par feu Mr. le Baron de Spanheim, avec des remarques & des preuves, enrichies de plus de 300 médailles, & autres anciens monumens, gravés par Bernard Picart le Romain'' was published. In 1729 he collaborated with Louis Fabricius Dubourg. In 1731 he published a reprint originally by his father (Le Romain). After his death the widow ordered her three daughters to keep his collection of drawings together but sell the prints at an auction and the copperplates in Paris. In 1734 she published ''Impostures innocentes, ou recueil d'estampes d'après divers peintres illustres tels que Raphaël, Le Guide, Carlo Maratta, Le Poussin, Rembrandt, etc., gravées à leur imitation et selon le goût particulier de chacun d'eux, et accompagnées d'un discours sur les préjugés de certains curieux touchant la gravure, par Bernard Picart, dessinateur et graveur, avec son éloge historique et le catalogue de ses ouvrages, Veuve de Bernard Picart, Amsterdam.'' She published a book by Pierre Lebrun about

superstition A superstition is any belief or practice considered by non-practitioners to be irrational or supernatural, attributed to fate or magic (supernatural), magic, perceived supernatural influence, or fear of that which is unknown. It is commonly app ...

with his engravings: ''Superstitions anciennes et modernes, préjugés vulgaires qui ont induit les peuples à des usages et à des pratiques contraires à la religion, avec des figures qui représentent ces pratiques, chez Jean-Frédéric Bernard, Amsterdam, 1733-1736.'' His widow was buried in

Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam The Nieuwe Kerk (, ) is a 15th-century church in Amsterdam located on Dam Square, next to the Royal Palace. Originally a Roman Catholic church, it became a Dutch Reformed Church church in 1578. It now belongs to the Protestant Church in the Nethe ...

. Her inventory (on 12 March 1736) mentioned around 400 portfolios with copperplates, books, drawings, paper, 54 paintings (not specified), jewellery and bonds. The website of the

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the S ...

in Amsterdam has more than 2,000 works online by Bernard Picart.

Works

Most of his work was book-illustrations, for which he collaborated with local artists like

Gerard Hoet Gerard Hoet (; 22 August 1648 – 2 December 1733) was a Dutch Golden Age painter and engraver. Biography Gerard Hoet trained with his father and brother who were glass painters, and Warnard van Rijsen, who lived in Zaltbommel, and who hi ...

and

Arnold Houbraken Arnold Houbraken (28 March 1660 – 14 October 1719) was a Dutch people, Dutch Painting, painter and writer from Dordrecht, now remembered mainly as a biographer of Dutch Golden Age painters. Life Houbraken was sent first to learn ''threadt ...

. The illustrations were used in various publications including the '' Figures de la Bible'' (1720) and the '' Taferelen der voornaamste geschiedenissen van het Oude en Nieuwe Testament'' (1728). The latter was a picture bible comprising 214 large engravings of which

Gilliam van der Gouwen Gilliam van der Gouwen, first name also transcribed as Guilliam and Willem (ca. 1657, Antwerp — buried on 15 March 1716, Amsterdam)P. van der Coelen, ''De ontstaansgeschiedenis van de prentenbijbel van Hoet, Houbraken en Picart''
in: E. Buijsen e.a. (red.), Kunst op papier in de achttiende eeuw/Art on Paper in the Eighteenth Century. Liber Amicorum aangeboden aan Charles Dumas ter gelegenheid van zijn 65ste verjaardag, Zoetermeer 2014, p. 48-61; p. 51 From 1720 Picart collaborated on the ''Cérémonies'' with the son of a Protestant minister , with a commitment to

religious toleration Religious tolerance or religious toleration may signify "no more than forbearance and the permission given by the adherents of a dominant religion for other religions to exist, even though the latter are looked on with disapproval as inferior, ...

Jonathan I. Israel Jonathan Irvine Israel (born 22 January 1946) is a British historian specialising in Dutch history, the Age of Enlightenment, Spinoza's Philosophy and European Jews. Israel was appointed as Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the School of Historic ...

calls ''Cérémonies'' "an immense effort to record the religious rituals and beliefs of the world in all their diversity as objectively and authentically as possible". Although Picart had never left Europe, he relied on accounts by those who had and had access to a collection of Indian sculpture. The original French edition of ''Cérémonies'' comprises ten volumes of text and 266 engravings.

"Cérémonies" engravings

* Vol. 1 – 30 engravings (1727) * Vol. 2 – 33 engravings (1727) * Vol. 3 – 19 engravings (1728) * Vol. 4 – 14 engravings (1729) * Vol. 5 – 26 engravings (1736) * Vol. 6 – 45 engravings (1738) * Vol. 7 – 58 engravings * Vol. 8 – 5 engravings * Vol. 9 – 24 engravings * Vol. 10 – 12 engravings

The Temple of the Muses

This was an illustrated book of Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'' more popular fables published in 1733 in Dutch (''Tempel der zanggodinnen, vertoond in LX heerlijke kunststukken, behelzende alle de voornaemste geschiedenissen van de Fabel-Oudheid''), in 1738 in English (''The Temple of the Muses, or, the principal histories of fabulous antiquity''), and in 1742 in French (''Le Temple des Muses, orné de LX tableaux où sont représentés les événemens les plus remarquables de l'antiquité fabuleuse''), by Zacharias Chatelain. The engravings had captions in French, English, German, and Dutch. The artists involved were Michel de Marolles, Bernard Picart, Jacques Favereau,

Abraham van Diepenbeeck Abraham van Diepenbeeck (9 May 1596 (baptised) – between May and September 1675) was a Dutch painter, draftsman, glass painter, print maker and tapestry designer who worked most of his active career in Antwerp.Cornelis Bloemaert Cornelis Bloemaert II (1603 – 28 September 1692), was a Dutch painter and engraver, who after training in the Dutch Republic worked most of his career in Rome. His workshop in Rome played an important role in spreading Italian art throughout E ...

. A facsimile of the Dutch version was published in 1968.

References

Notes

Bibliography

*Baskind, Samantha, “Judging a Book by its Cover: Bernard Picart's Jews and Art History,” ''Journal of Modern Jewish Studies'' 15, no. 1 (March 2015): 1-23. *Baskind, Samantha, “Bernard Picart’s Etchings of Amsterdam’s Jews,” ''Jewish Social Studies'' 13, no. 2 (Winter 2007): 40-64. * Grafton, Anthony. "A Jewel of a Thousand Facets." ''

New York Review of Books New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

'' (June 10, 2010) Vol. LVII, number 11. Page 38–40
Online summary
* * Hunt, Lynn and Margaret Jacob and Wijnand Mijnhardt (2010). ''Bernard Picart and the First Global Vision of Religion'', Los Angeles:

Getty Research Institute The Getty Research Institute (GRI), located at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, is "dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts".

br>Bernard Picart and the First Global Vision of Religion
*Wyss-Giacosa, Paola von (2006). ''Religionsbilder der frühen Aufklärung : Bernard Picarts Tafeln für die Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples du monde''. Wabern (Switzerland): Benteli, 2006. See also Margaret Jacob, 'The Radical Enlightenment' (London:George Allen & Unwin, 1981). *

Israel, Jonathan I. Jonathan Irvine Israel (born 22 January 1946) is a British historian specialising in Dutch history, the Age of Enlightenment, Spinoza's Philosophy and European Jews. Israel was appointed as Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the School of Historical ...

(2001) ''Radical enlightenment: philosophy and the making of modernity, 1650–1750''. Oxford University Press. *Jacob, Margaret (2005) ''Bernard Picart and the Turn to Modernity'', De Achttiende eeuw, vol. 37, 2005, pp. 1–16.

External links

* * Bernard Picart and Jean Frederic Bernard'
''Religious Ceremonies and Customs of the World''
on

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

website. {{DEFAULTSORT:Picart, Bernard 1673 births 1733 deaths Converts to Protestantism Engravers from Paris French printmakers French engravers