Charles Gavard

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Jacques-Dominique-Charles Gavard (born August 9, 1794 in Paris , † June 14, 1871 in Versailles ) was a French engineer, art historian, engraver and publisher and a close friend of Frédéric Chopin .

Life

Gavard began studying at the École polytechnique in 1810 and invented the so-called diagraph, a kind of drawing machine, in 1826. With this, a targeted point could be transferred onto the paper in perspective projection using a special device. The invention immediately found widespread use, for example with the painter Wilhelm Hensel . His wife Fanny Hensel , the sister of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy , wrote to her mother Lea Mendelssohn Bartholdy from Paris on July 23, 1835 , that Hensel was having a drawing “done by Gavard, with whose machine this is a work from. 4–5 days (it is almost finished) and a very low output v. about 80 francs. "

Gavard also became famous for the publication of the numerous copper engravings in the royal picture gallery in the Palace of Versailles , an edition that grew to 11 volumes over the years.

Chopin first mentioned "the Gavards" in December 1845 to his family. In a letter completed on January 6, 1848, he wrote: "Gavard gave me his drawings for Ludwika [Chopin's sister]," and repeated on February 10: "The Versailles gallery is by Gavard for Ludwika."

The theater critic Jules Janin also belonged to Gavard's circle of friends .

family

Gavard married Thérèse Goetz (* 1805 in Zabern; † 26 May 1854 in Paris) in Zabern on June 25, 1823 , with whom he had three children:

  • Élise-Thérèse Gavard (born June 19, 1824 in Zabern, † September 21, 1900 in Sains-en-Amiénois ), piano student of Chopin, to whom "Mademoiselle Elise Gavard" 1845 dedicated the first edition of his Berceuse D flat major op. The autograph, written in Nohant in the summer of 1844 , bears the inscription: “A Mademoiselle Elise Gavard / son vieux professeur et ami / Chopin.” According to information from the Chopin biographer Moritz Karasowski , the original was still in her possession in 1883. It is possible that the Berceuse (German "lullaby") was inspired by the then two-year-old daughter of the singer Pauline Viardot-Garcia , the later singer and composer Louise Héritte-Viardot , whose mother was traveling in the summer of this year, while her child was by her friend Elise Gavard was looked after. In addition, Chopin provided the autograph of his F minor waltz, Op. 70 No. 2, written in 1841 with the dedication “à Mlle Elise Gavard”. It did not appear in print posthumously until 1855.
  • Charles-René Gavard (born June 9, 1826 - July 11, 1893 in Paris). He wrote extensive, now lost memories of the last months in Chopin's life, which he made available to the Chopin biographers Moritz Karasowski and Friedrich Niecks . He later became a successful diplomat and worked in the French Foreign Ministry.
  • Georges-Albéric-Guisiain Gavard (born February 17, 1838; † 1907).

Works

Van Dyck, Anthony (1599-1641), Charles Gavard, Felixarchief, 12 9271
  • Notice sur le diagraphe , Paris 1831 ( digitized in the Google book search); 5th ed. 1834; 6th ed. 1839.
  • Galeries historiques des Versailles , 11 volumes, Paris 1838–1849 (with 1200 copperplate engravings) (all digital copies in the Münster University Library)

literature

  • Moritz Karasowski : Friedrich Chopin. His life and his letters . 2nd Edition. Ries, Dresden and Schirmer, New York 1878, pp. 328–338 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
  • Revue savoisienne , Volume 50 (1909), p. 288 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Paul L. Mergier-Bourdeix (Ed.): Jules Janin , 735 lettres à sa femme . Volume 1. Klincksieck, Paris 1973, pp. 596-605.
  • Krystyna Kobylańska (ed.): Frédéric Chopin: Letters. Berlin 1983.
  • Les donateurs du Louvre . Paris 1989, p. 215.
  • Katie Hornstein: Le diagraphe de Charles Gavard et l'âge de la reproduction mécanique visuelle en France . In: Histoire de l'art , No. 70 (July 2012), pp. 73-82.
  • Marie-Paule Rambeau: Chopin: L'enchanteur autoritaire . L'Harmattan, Paris 2005.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans-Günter Klein (Ed.): Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel: Letters from Paris to her family 1835 . Reichert, Wiesbaden 2007, p. 43.
  2. ↑ Kobylańska (1983), p. 242.
  3. ↑ Kobylańska (1983), p. 277.
  4. ↑ Kobylańska (1983), p. 280.
  5. ↑ life data and relationship to Chopin from: Mergier-Bourdeix (1973), pp 596-605.
  6. ↑ Karasowski (1883), p. 338.
personal data
SURNAME Gavard, Charles
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gavard, Jacques-Dominique-Charles (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French engineer, art historian, engraver and publisher
DATE OF BIRTH August 9, 1794
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris
DATE OF DEATH June 14, 1871
Place of death Versailles