Paris was the “it” destination this summer as the host city of the Olympics. Wall-to-wall media coverage extolled the capital’s cultural treasures and chic scenes of everyday life. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has on view, through Feb. 4, 2025, a special exhibition that is a passport to Paris, albeit an 18th-century version.
The Chronicles of Saint-Aubin
Saint-Aubin was born into an artisan family. Among his brothers was an embroidery designer, a Sèvres porcelain painter, and a portrait engraver. Gabriel was considered to have the greatest talent; he studied with the famous painter François Boucher and competed three times for the Royal Academy’s Grand Prize. However, he never won and, thus, did not achieve his dream of being a history painter.
These setbacks put him on a unique artistic path as a chronicler on paper—in drawings and prints—of contemporary Paris life. His images are imbued with wit, sensitivity, creativity, patriotism, and intellect, and they reveal Saint-Aubin as a genius draftsman. There are strong themes throughout his output, which include allegorical vignettes, local and international current events, theatrical entertainments, and leisure, architecture, and the burgeoning art market.
The Parisian milieus and people that drew Saint-Aubin’s inquisitive eye ran the gamut from the upper to lower classes, the idyllic to distressed, and the stately to humble. Examples of this range can be found throughout the gallery space. A work using chalk, ink, watercolor, and gouache on one wall, “The Curving Stair,” shows a fashionable woman with a boy and dog about to climb a stone stairway to reach a sunlit park.
On the other side of the room is “Trade Card for Périer, Ironmonger,” one in a series of trade cards—18th-century versions of business cards—he worked on for a local ironmonger. Despite the mundane purpose of this work, Saint-Aubin elevated it with his rendering of an illusionistic composition of a shop interior. Practical applications of his talents, such as this, were a vital means of income, although he never achieved financial security.
Two picturesque scenes of the famed Tuileries gardens are a delight with their atmospheric greenery and classical sculptures. The impetus for these etchings was likely the new amenities of a chair rental concession and recently created watering cart for dust reduction. The museum writes on their wall label that the works are a “delightful conundrum of Saint-Aubin’s style: miniature in scale and panoramic in effect.”
“Studies for a Street Show in Paris (La parade sur les boulevards)” is a sheet of paper that has several dynamic figure studies. It is a preparatory chalk sketch for one of his rare oil paintings with a subject of public entertainment. There is an immediacy and energy to this work, which shows a variety of viewers coming together to watch a mock duel between commedia dell’arte characters. Saint-Aubin loved the theater and was enthralled by the drama both on and offstage.
Art Market Chronicles
Saint-Aubin was an ardent attendee of fine art events, including auctions and prestigious exhibitions. His chronicling of the art market coincides with its rising societal importance. The artist would make his own recordings in auction sale catalogues of important collections being sold publicly, using the venue as a means to enjoy and learn about art. An example in the Met’s exhibit is a sheet of thumbnail sketches made during the estate sale of Louis François, prince of Conti. Every miniscule scene is labeled with its lot number, and, by this means, curators today can identify certain works.
Saint-Aubin documented the biennial exhibitions of the institute that had rejected him—the Royal Academy. These shows, called Salons, were showcases for the most eminent art of the day and held at the Louvre. In “View of the Salon in the Year 1753,” Saint-Aubin’s focus is not on the walls groaning with paintings or the windows with views of the Seine, but the crowd’s excitement—another example of his interest in public entertainment. He made other works that were fully rendered views of the Salons along with thumbnail sketches of specific works akin to his auction marginalia.
An interesting work in the exhibit is labeled a “hybrid” by curator Perrin Stein. “Allegory of Louis XV as Patron of the Arts with Paintings and Sculpture from the Salon of 1769” features sketches of sculptures on plinths and densely hung paintings juxtaposed with an allegory: A portrait of Louis XV, whose rendering likens him to a Roman emperor, is presented to the viewer by allegorical figures of the arts. This latter part, along with the oil paint, were later additions to the original chalk drawing of the Salon of 1769’s contents.
An intriguing pair of allegories in the show are his depictions “Allegory of the Marriages Performed by the City of Paris in Honor of the Birth of the Duc de Bourgogne in 1751.” To commemorate the little prince’s birth, tributes in all the major art forms were made. In addition, dowries were given to 600 underprivileged women who were all married on one day. The intricate compositions here are represented in both an etching and drawing. While the former had been known to scholars, the drawing has only recently come to light.
Another Louis XV reference in the exhibit is Saint-Aubin’s 1763 drawing of an equestrian statue of the king. The monumental sculpture had been installed that year between the Tuileries entrance and the Champs Elysée. This location was then considered the outskirts of Paris and is today the prime Place de la Concorde. Saint-Aubin frames the scene with the architectural arcade and, perhaps, includes himself as the artist sketching at the right.
Much of Saint-Aubin’s art was made small-scale because portability was essential as he roamed the streets of Paris. Nevertheless, he created complex works that captured the city’s essence, from highs to lows, during the 18th century. “Paris through the Eyes of Saint-Aubin” allows the viewer to journey back in time and rediscover Paris anew.
