Nicolas-Toussaint CHARLET: Le Marchand de dessins lithographiques - 1818-1819

SOLD

[The Seller of Lithographic drawings]

Lithograph, 308 x 235 mm. La Combe 85, IFF 66.

Very fine impression printed on white wove paper. Generally in very good condition. Sheet: 285 x 420 mm.

Nicolas-Toussaint Charlet sketched his favourite subjects, a sapper and a conscript, with a lot of humour, as they pore over lithographs that represent them in their daily life: marching into combat, taking care of horses, etc. As for the print dealer, he seems to be sleeping in his open-air market.

This famous lithograph was printed at François-Séraphin Delpech's printing workshop (1778-1825). It can be dated to 1818-1819, which makes it a lithographic incunabulum. François-Séraphin Delpech had his own shop and printing workshop at 3, Quai Voltaire in Paris, which Carle Vernet depicted in an 1818 lithograph: Imprimerie lithographique de F. Delpech.

Rare (marked 'R' in La Combe's catalogue raisonné).