Fäsch, Johann Ludwig Wernhard, circa 1738-1778. Johann Ludwig Wernhard Fäsch portraits of actors and actresses
Overview
Watercolor drawings on paper or vellum, of actors and actresses in Paris and London, by Swiss artist Johann Ludwig Wernhard Fäsch.
Dates
- Creation: 1760-1778
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in French and English.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material.
Extent
.25 linear feet (1 box)14 watercolor and graphite miniature drawings on paper or vellum. Some include additional mediums added, such as gold paint and possibly varnish. All are unsigned and have no location specified on the items, but all are from performances at theaters in Paris or London. Each drawing is pasted onto another sheet of paper. All include manuscript annotations on recto and verso in variant hands, some are on drawing itself, some on mount.
Subjects of the drawings are actors in various roles from the Comédie-Française, Comédie-Italienne (Paris, France), and others. Full name of actor is supplied. Includes portraits of: Carlo Antonio Bertinazzo, Claire Joséphe Hippolyte Legris de Latude Clairon, Francoise-Marie-Jeanne-Elisabeth Gaultier Drouin, Mlle (Marie-Francoise) Dumesnil, David Garrick, Marie-Thérèse Villette Laruette, Barthélemy Larochelle, Henri Louis Cain Lekain, François René Molé, and Pierre Louis Dubus Préville.
Biographical / Historical
Fäsch was a Swiss painter, illustrator, miniaturist, and portraitist, born in Basel circa 1738 and died in Paris in 1778. Fäsch studied law but soon became a painter. He later moved to Paris and also completed portraits in London. He was known under a number of names including: Jean Louis Fesch and Johann Ludwig Wernhard Faesch, as well as de Fesch, Foech, and Foesch. Fäsch is the first artist to be said with certainty to have drawn his subjects directly from actual performance.
Arrangement
Arranged as originally numbered in case. A few at end were found loose in folders.
Physical Location
b
Immediate Source of Acquisition
No accession number. Source unknown, date unknown.
Formerly under call number Thr 410.20.5*.
Processing Information
Processed by: Bonnie B. Salt
- Title
- Fäsch, Johann Ludwig Wernhard, circa 1738-1778. Johann Ludwig Wernhard Fäsch portraits of actors and actresses, circa 1760-1778: Guide.
- Author
- Harvard Theatre Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou02131
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
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