Jean de La Fontaine / Jean-Baptiste Oudry - Fables de la Fontaine. 270 illustrations de J.-B. Oudry - 1904

Beautiful edition reproducing 270 engravings by Jean-Baptiste Oudry, painter to Louis XV, for the illustration of the 245 fables by Jean de La Fontaine, a masterpiece of French heritage. Edition given by Tallandier with the title at the top: "Illustrated artistic edition" the date of 1904 is established according to Lorenz. Copy established in a fine period binding in half-morocco milk chocolate with corners, ribbed spine adorned with an elegant decoration of gilded fleurons, gilded head. Menu handling faults. Some occasional foxing without gravity. Without the covers. Through his lively drawings teeming with detail, Jean-Baptiste Oudry offers an admirable fresco of society at the end of the 17th century. No one has been able to represent animals better than him: the painter makes them come alive as the fabulist makes them talk. A professor at the Royal Academy of Painting, Oudry moved away from his primary vocation as a portrait painter, which had made him famous, to move towards still life and then animal painting. The great success of his Boar Hunt (1722) won him the favor of the public and the king. It is in nature that his talent takes on its full scope. The approximately 245 paintings he left represent animals full of life. All these animals are accurate, whether they are at rest or in motion: the reactions (fear, panic, stubbornness in resistance) like the anatomy, the coat and the feathers, have an accuracy hitherto neglected. Oudry worked for several years on the illustration of La Fontaine's Fables, these being the perfect source of his inspiration: animals. From 1729 to 1734, he drew 275 compositions, sometimes using them for decorative or tapestry subjects. Fifteen years later, the sieur Montenault, who wanted to “create, without regard for any expense” the finest edition of the Fables, bought his sketches from Oudry to illustrate four volumes of the Fables. But the designs will not be delivered directly to the copper; they will be retouched by Nicolas Cochin, who will lead the team of engravers hired on behalf of the publishers Desaint & Saillant and Durand. Work began in 1751. On April 27, 1755, three days before Oudry's death, the first volume came off the press. He is presented to the king, who will encourage and endorse the adventure. A long-term undertaking, we had to wait until 1759 to see the fourth and last volume of this edition. The care that the hands of the time took in engraving the plates made by Oudry is not unrelated to the excellent quality of the work. Jean-Baptiste Oudry / Jean de La Fontaine Fables Paris: J. Tallandier, [1904] Flight. in-8 of 26 cm of 634 p. : [268] ill. Subject: Oudry / Jean de La Fontaine 245 Fables 270 illustrations 1904 Binding in morocco