Jacobus Gibbs Architectus

Hand-colored engraving, 1747, London.
After William Hogarth.
Image: 10 1/2 x 7 1/2″
Paper: 13 3/4 x 10 3/8″
Excellent condition.

Inventory Number: 10368
Portrait of the architect Jacobus Gibbs.

Bernard Baron, a French engraver and etcher, was born in Paris in 1696, but he worked in England. He died in London in 1762. Baron was the son-in-law and student of Nicolas-Henri Tardieu (1674-1749), considered one of the finest etchers of the 18th century. Baron first went to London in 1712 when he accompanied the French engraver Claude Du Bosc (active 1711-1740) to assist with the engraving of murals at Marlborough House. In 1724, he engraved eight plates of the Life of Achilles after Rubens.

In 1729, he returned to Paris where he engraved L’Accord Parfait the first of four plates he made for the Recueil Jullienne, a compendium of 271 engravings of Watteau’s paintings and decorations for Jean de Jullienne (1686-1766), a wealthy textile manufacturer, engraver, and collector of Watteau’s work, which was ultimately published in 1735. The four prints Baron made for the Recueil Jullienne are included in J. Meyer et al., Allgemeines Künstler-Lexikon. 3 vols. Leipzig: W. Engelmann, 1872-1885. See vol. 3, pp. 30-31, nos. 51-54. LC call number: N40.M47. Baron also engraved a copy of Titian’s Pardo Venus for the second volume of the Recueil Crozat, a collection of prints of Italian paintings in French collections which was published in 1742.

Baron knew many of England’s most important artists, sculptors and architects. He was one of four French artists chosen by Hogarth to engrave plates for his Marriage à la mode series. Baron also engraved portraits by Hogarth and Allan Ramsey, as well as the works of Holbein, Rubens, Van Dyck, and Teniers.