15th-Century Musical Instruments and 14th-Century Figures by Eustache-Hyacinthe Langlois

15th-Century Musical Instruments and 14th-Century Figures by Eustache-Hyacinthe Langlois 

C.1866

Hand-Colored Engraving

This delightful hand-colored engraving, executed in 1866, is divided into two distinct illustrative registers documenting medieval music and performance history. The upper section displays six standalone 15th-century musical instruments copied from an illuminated manuscript of Vincent de Beauvais’s Miroir Historial (MS 6731), depicting a lute, a Gothic harp, a bowed fiddle, a portative organ, a straight pipe, and a psaltery. The lower section depicts two costumed 14th-century figures playing stringed instruments alongside decorative neck fittings, copied from two medieval Bibles historiaux manuscripts (MSS 6703 and 6819) held in the Bibliothèque Impériale. Designed and drawn by the French draftsman, writer, and antiquarian Eustache-Hyacinthe Langlois (1777–1837) (E. H. Langlois del.) and engraved by Nicolas-Xavier Willemin(1763–1839) (Willemin sculp.), this plate was originally created 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. Eustache-Hyacinthe Langlois was an influential figure in early French art history and archaeology, celebrated for his dedication to documenting Normandy’s medieval architecture, stained glass, and manuscript art. This specific plate holds immense historical importance in organology (the study of musical instruments) and art history; by meticulously copying details from landmark medieval manuscripts in the Bibliothèque Impériale (now the Bibliothèque nationale de France), Langlois and Willemin created invaluable documentation of medieval musical performance and instrument design decades before the invention of photographic reproduction.

Dimensions: H 17 ¼” x 11” W

Condition: very slight foxing