Incroyables et Merveilleuses

VERY RARE COMPLETE SET of 33 costume prints of men and women engraved by Gatine after Horace Vernet - for the first 31 plates - then Lanté for the last two. Superb contemporary hand-colored proofs, with wide margins and remarkable freshness. The plates in this work form one of the most beautiful costume series, published by the Journal des Dames et des Modesbetween 1810 and 1818.

Founded in Paris in 1797, Le journal des dames et des modesquickly established itself as the most important fashion title of its era, that of the Incroyables and Merveilleuses, these reactionary young people who, after the harsh years of the Terror and the establishment of the Directory, chose to express their rejection of the Republic's egalitarianism and their desire to affirm the differences between masters and servants through eccentric outfits (in the manner of the Zazous during the Occupation).

It was Pierre de La Mésangère who took over the direction of the Journal, setting its tone and establishing its aesthetic, with well-known success.

Throughout his career, this Oratorian priest sought to maintain his readers' enthusiasm, by surrounding himself with brilliant collaborators at the zenith of their careers, such as the painter Carle Vernet, but also by unearthing new talents, like Horace Vernet, Louis-Marie Lanté, and the poet Marceline Desbordes-Valmore.

Horace Vernet's collaboration with the Journal des dames et des modes began in 1810 with the delivery of the first plates in the Incroyables et Merveilleuses series, new young people of a new era, begun under the Empire, ending under Louis XVIII. Until 1817, Horace Vernet provided a total of 31 plates, before Lanté took over, drawing two last ones which, unlike most of the plates provided by Lanté for the Journal, have the distinction of being signed by the artist.

Le journal des dames et des modes continued to be published until 1839. The Incroyables et Merveilleuses series by Vernet and Lanté, engraved by Georges-Jacques Gatine (another prolific artist who collaborated with La Mésangère) is one of the most famous series published for this title. Today, owning all 33 plates is rare, indeed extremely rare.

Our copy is complete, in excellent condition, elegantly hand-colored (period work), free of any foxing, with wide margins, protected in a slipcase and bound by Pierre-Lucien Martin.

A complete copy of great rarity and very fine provenance of one of the most emblematic series of fashion engravings.