15th-Century Musical Instruments and 14th-Century Figures by A. Giroux

15th-Century Musical Instruments and 14th-Century Figures by A. Giroux

C.1866

Hand-Colored Engraving

Drafted by artist A. Giroux (A. Giroux del.) and etched by master printmaker Nicolas-Xavier Willemin (1763–1839) (Willemin sculp.), this exquisite hand-colored print executed in 1866 offers a multi-register study of 12th-century musical instruments. The plate organizes seven distinct depictions across three tiers. At the top, under the heading Instrumens de Musique du XII.me Siècle / Portail de Notre Dame de Chartres, it illustrates architectural stone carvings from Chartres Cathedral, including a decorated Romanesque harp topped with a stylized animal head, an early figure-eight viell/vielle, and a small psaltery. The middle tier features three stringed instruments painted in a 12th-century manuscript from the Bibliothèque Impériale (Instrumens de Musique, peints dans un M.S. du XII.me Siècle, de la Bibliothèque Impériale). The bottom section details two close-up studies of string configurations and tuning mechanisms from a manuscript preserved in Belgium (M.S. N.o 4, Belgique; Dépôt des Cordeliers). The plate was produced for Willemin’s landmark publication Monuments français inédits pour servir à l'histoire des arts depuis le VIe siècle jusqu'au commencement du XVIIe.

Created during the rise of 19th-century Romanticism and the French Gothic Revival, this work forms part of a pioneering effort to systematically record and preserve France's medieval material heritage. Auguste-Xavier Leprince and artists like A. Giroux worked alongside Nicolas-Xavier Willemin to document early French art history and archaeology, with a focus on capturing medieval sculpture, architectural reliefs, and manuscript illuminations. This specific plate holds immense historical importance in organology (the study of musical instruments) and art history; by combining architectural relief details from Chartres Cathedral with manuscript studies from the Bibliothèque Impériale and Belgian archives, Willemin provided invaluable comparative documentation of 12th-century Romanesque instrument design long before the advent of photographic reproduction.

Dimensions: H 17 ¼” x 11” W

Condition: Has slight foxing, a crease from being folded, and small tears on the bottom edge