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Madamoiselle Catherina
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Charles the Elder Grignion (1721 - 1810), engraver
After Hayman, Francis (1707/8-1776)
After Hayman, Francis (1707/8-1776)
Madamoiselle Catherina
1743
Inscription: Lettered below image with title and description Madamoiselle Catherina / Is a Puppet and mov'd by Clock Work shown by the Savoyards for a Livelyhood.
Inscription: Lettered to left and right of title with verses explaining what is happening and giving the words of the song being sung:
[To left of title]
By secret Mechanism forc'd around
The Puppet Catherina changes ground
And whilst she moves obedient to the Springs,
Amusing the Spectators, her Owner sings:
[To right of title]
Ma Commere, quand je danse
Mon Cotillion va - - t - - il bien
Il va d'ici, il va dela, Ha, ha, ha!
Ma Commere &c.
[To left of title]
By secret Mechanism forc'd around
The Puppet Catherina changes ground
And whilst she moves obedient to the Springs,
Amusing the Spectators, her Owner sings:
[To right of title]
Ma Commere, quand je danse
Mon Cotillion va - - t - - il bien
Il va d'ici, il va dela, Ha, ha, ha!
Ma Commere &c.
Inscription: Production detail: 'F. Hayman pinxt.', 'Publish'd according to Act of Parliam.t 4 April 1743', 'C. Grignion Sculpt. from the Original Painting in Vaux-Hall Garden' and publication line: "Printed for Thos Bowles in St. Pauls Church Yard, and John Bowles at the Black Horse in Cornhill'.
Museum number: P362
On display: Oratory (pre-booked tours only)
All spaces are in No. 13 Lincoln's Inn Fields unless identified as in No. 12, Soane's first house.
For tours https://www.soane.org/your-visit
Curatorial note
The artist Francis Hayman painted a series of large works (the earliest unveiled in 1742) to decorate the supper-boxes at the famous Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, for its proprietor, Jonathan Tyers. They depicted suitably light-hearted scenes such as children's games, popular pastimes such as people skating or rural traditions like milkmaids garlanding their beasts. 14 survive. This is a print after one of the lost paintings, titled, somewhat ambiguously, 'Madamoiselle Catherina'. As Brian Allen has observed, Hayman's conversation-piece style was adapted in this scene in imitation of the French scéne-galante.
This engraving was probably the final state (version) of several produced by John Bowles in 1743. Two other states in the British Museum (nos. 1862,0614.1583 and 1862,1011.612) are both dated 1743 but the lettering beneath the images does not explain who the subject is, stating only that the prints are 'Engraved from the original painting in Vauxhall Garden' and published by 'John Bowles at the Black Horse, Cornhill, and Carington Bowles at St Paul's Church Yard'.
The Soane version was published by Thomas Bowles at the Black Horse, Cornhill and John Bowles at St Paul's Church Yard' and is precisely dated 4 April 1743: the lettering gives a detailed description of the scene, in which Savoyards (men from the French province of Savoy) entertain a gathering by playing and singing while an exqusite miniature automaton, the 'Mademoiselle Catherina' of the title, performs.
The British Museum prints are described on their website as depicting a 'famous dwarf' being presented to a group of people on a terrace, and it is clear that there was some ambiguity about the subject as Hayman's original at Vauxhall was referred to in 1792 inThe Ambulator, or a Pocket Companion in a Tour round London, as a painting of 'Mademoiselle Catherine, a dwarf'. Eighteenth century automatons were famed for their engineering precision and extraordinarily life-like quality.
This engraving was probably the final state (version) of several produced by John Bowles in 1743. Two other states in the British Museum (nos. 1862,0614.1583 and 1862,1011.612) are both dated 1743 but the lettering beneath the images does not explain who the subject is, stating only that the prints are 'Engraved from the original painting in Vauxhall Garden' and published by 'John Bowles at the Black Horse, Cornhill, and Carington Bowles at St Paul's Church Yard'.
The Soane version was published by Thomas Bowles at the Black Horse, Cornhill and John Bowles at St Paul's Church Yard' and is precisely dated 4 April 1743: the lettering gives a detailed description of the scene, in which Savoyards (men from the French province of Savoy) entertain a gathering by playing and singing while an exqusite miniature automaton, the 'Mademoiselle Catherina' of the title, performs.
The British Museum prints are described on their website as depicting a 'famous dwarf' being presented to a group of people on a terrace, and it is clear that there was some ambiguity about the subject as Hayman's original at Vauxhall was referred to in 1792 inThe Ambulator, or a Pocket Companion in a Tour round London, as a painting of 'Mademoiselle Catherine, a dwarf'. Eighteenth century automatons were famed for their engineering precision and extraordinarily life-like quality.
Literature
The Ambulator, or a Pocket Companion in a Tour round London ..., 1792, p.246 [ebook available via google books]
Brian Allen, Francis Hayman, exhibition catalogue, Yale University Press, 1987, p.108, 181.
Brian Allen, Francis Hayman, exhibition catalogue, Yale University Press, 1987, p.108, 181.
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