Gabriel-Jacques de Saint-Aubin, 'A Street Show in Paris', 1760

A Street Show in Paris

Gabriel-Jacques de Saint-Aubin

Not on display

About the work

Overview

Framed beneath an arch of tall trees, a small crowd watches two characters from commedia dell’arte (a popular form of comic theatre) engaged in a mock duel. The show is watched by a mix of male and female characters from various social classes, ranging from young children to the elderly. This is very likely a street performance in the boulevard du Temple, which by the 1760s had become a lively area filled with cafés, inns, shops, street performers and permanent theatrical venues.

Saint-Aubin worked primarily as a graphic artist, earning his living from making etchings and engravings and illustrating books. He portrayed everyday life in Paris, including aspects of it overlooked by more established artists. His humorous sketches of the Parisian scene often showed recognisable locations. Saint-Aubin had ambitions to be a painter, and this rare painting from 1760 is typical of his choice of subject and lively treatment.

In-depth

Saint-Aubin was primarily a graphic artist, who earned his living from making etchings and engravings and illustrating books. His career prefigures that of Daumier, the nineteenth-century illustrator and caricaturist. Both artists portrayed everyday life in Paris, including aspects of it overlooked by more established artists. Less satirical than Daumier, Saint-Aubin made humorous sketches of the Parisian scene and contemporary manners which often showed recognisable locations. This rare painting from 1760 is typical of his choice of subject and lively treatment.

Framed beneath an arch of tall trees, a small crowd watches two characters from commedia dell’arte (a popular form of comic theatre), possibly a Neapolitan Scaramouche and Harlequin, engaged in a duel. They are performing what was known as a parade – the painting was once titled Le Parade du Boulevard. As described in a contemporary theatrical dictionary, a parade was a ‘farce or little comedy with no rules whatever … very free and very satirical, that the buffoons stage on scaffolding above the entrance to their plays in order to attract the public.’ Given the relatively low height of this stage, the theatre entrance would have been to the side, rather than below it. Although these fencers are acting out a mock duel, the tips of their swords are uncovered and neither wears a mask, adding an element of danger to the show. The man at the window with his arms raised may also be part of the act.

An assortment of male and female characters from various social classes, and ranging from young children to the elderly, watch the performance. Saint-Aubin creates a series of vignettes within the picture. Near the centre, for example, you can see a waiter (identifiable by his apron) whose braided hair suggests a connection with the Far East. His arm is around his female companion. A child at her feet, unable to see the stage, tries to attract her attention. In contrast to the people absorbed in the duel, a boy on the right, perhaps exhausted from sounding the drum roll to announce a performance he has seen many times, sleeps astride a bass drum.

This street performance is very likely taking place in the boulevard du Temple, which by the 1760s was filled with cafés, inns, shops and permanent theatrical venues. Despite the hostile view of one commentator, who in 1754 complained about the ‘multitude of common people who assail you with rough talk … vendors of poor beer, charlatans, games with dogs, parades which make idiots laugh’, the boulevard du Temple attracted people of all classes. It even received royal endorsement when it was visited in June 1756 by members of the royal family.

Saint-Aubin’s painting met a growing taste for images of crowd activities in recognisable places in or near Paris. Although he may have exercised some artistic licence – for example, the decorative arching trees that perhaps suggest an attempt to bring the imagery of the fête galantes into a modern urban scene – contemporary viewers would have recognised this as a credible portrayal of the boulevard du Temple. It has been suggested that this is a companion painting to The Meeting on the Boulevard (Musée Hyacinthe Rigaud, Perpignan), which shows a strolling aristocratic couple rather than ordinary street folk, but the two pictures were never hung as a pair and never belonged to the same owner.

Key facts

Details

Full title: A Street Show in Paris
Artist: Gabriel-Jacques de Saint-Aubin
Artist dates: 1724 - 1780
Date made: 1760
Medium and support: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 80 × 64.1 cm
Acquisition credit: Bought, 1907
Inventory number: NG2129
Location: Not on display
Collection: Main Collection

Provenance

Possibly acquired by Charles Baring‐Wall (1795–1853) of Norman Court (or Normancourt), West Tytherley, Hampshire, and 44 Berkeley Square, London, or by a descendant; probably inherited by Francis Charles Baring (1852–1926) of Norman Court in whose sale it was, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 4 May 1907, lot 24 (as by C. Gillot, £99 15s. to Agnew’s); bought from Agnew’s for the same price out of the Lewis Fund, 1907.

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Humphrey Wine, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Eighteenth Century French Paintings’, London 2018; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Bibliography

1859

E. de Goncourt and J. de Goncourt, Les Saint-Aubin, étude concernant quatre portraits inédits graves a l'eau-forte, Paris 1859
1880

E. de Goncourt and J. de Goncourt, L'art du dix-huitième siècle, 3rd edn, Paris 1880
1881

E. de Goncourt and J. de Goncourt, La maison d'un artiste, Paris 1881
1884

M. Crouchandeu, Catalogue raisonné des objets d'art et d'archéologie du musée de Perpignan, Perpignan 1884
1894

A. Moureau, Les Saint-Aubin, Paris 1894
1907

M.W. Brockwell, The National Gallery: Lewis Bequest, London 1907
1908

C.J. Holmes, 'The "Parade" by G. de Saint-Aubin', The Burlington Magazine, XIII/63, 1908, pp. 151-3
1909

M.W. Brockwell, The National Gallery: Lewis Bequest, London 1909
1912

É. Dacier, 'Gabriel de Saint-Aubin peintre', Revue de l'art ancien et moderne, XXXI, 1912, pp. 5-18, 117-32
1914

É. Dacier, L'oeuvre gravé de Gabriel de Saint-Aubin: Notice historique et catalogue raisonné, Paris 1914
1925

G. Lebel, 'Un tableau de Gabriel de Saint-Aubin au musée de Perpignan', Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de l'Art Français, 1925, pp. 113-4
1925

E. Dacier and E. Girod de l'Ain, Exposition des Saint-Aubin: Catalogue raisonné, (exh. cat. Hôtel de M. Jean Charpentier, 7 - 29 April 1925), Paris 1925
1926

G. Lebel, 'Un tableau de Gabriel de Saint-Aubin au Musée de Perpignan', Revue de l'art ancien et moderne, I, 1926, pp. 48-54
1929

É. Dacier, Gabriel de Saint-Aubin, peintre, dessinateur et graveur, 1724-1780, 2 vols, Paris 1929
1931

M. Roux, Inventaire du fonds français, graveurs du XVIIIe siècle, Paris 1931
1946

Martin Davies, National Gallery Catalogues: French School, London 1946
1950

J. Mathey, 'Three Paintings by Gabriel de Saint-Aubin', The Burlington Magazine, XCII/565, 1950, pp. 107-8
1957

Martin Davies, National Gallery Catalogues: French School, 2nd edn (revised), London 1957
1960

J. Cailleux, 'An Unpublished Painting by Gabriel de Saint-Aubin: Le Bal champêtre', The Burlington Magazine, CII/686, 1960, pp. i-iv
1964

A. Ananoff, 'Oeuvres inédites de Gabriel de Saint-Aubin', Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de l'Art Français, 1964, pp. 115-7
1968

D. Sutton, France in the Eighteenth Century (exh. cat. Royal Academy of Arts, 6 January - 3 March 1968), London 1968
1974

J.W. Niemeijer, Franse tekenkunst van de 18de eeuw uit nederlandse verzamelingen, Amsterdam 1974
1975

P. Rosenberg, The Age of Louis XV: French Paintings 1710-1774 (exh. cat. Toledo, 26 October 26 - 7 December 1975; Art Institute of Chicago, 10 January - 22 February 1976; National Gallery of Canada, 21 March 21 - 2 May 1976), Ohio 1975
1985

M. Wilson, French Paintings before 1800, London 1985
1991

E. Launay, Les frères Goncourt, collectionneurs de dessins, Paris 1991
1992

M. Levey, Painting and Sculpture in France 1700-1789, New Haven 1992
1992

S.F. McCullagh, 'Eighteenth-Century French Cabinet Drawings', in Drawing: Masters and Methods: Raphael to Redon, London 1992, pp. 89-102
1995

S.L. Siegfried, The Art of Louis-Léopold Boilly: Modern Life in Napoleonic France, New Haven 1995
1996

S.F. McCullagh, 'Gabriel de Saint-Aubin's Debt to Antoine Watteau and François Boucher', in H. Bauereisen and M. Stuffmann (eds), Correspondances: Festchrift fur Margret Stuffmann zum 24. November 1996, Mainz 1996, pp. 125-34
1998

K. de Beaumont, Reconsidering Gabriel de Saint-Aubin (1724-1780): The Background for His Scenes of Paris, Phd Thesis, New York University 1998
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
2001

F. Viatte, 'Un don des Amis du Louvre. "Le Livre des Saint-Aubin" au Département des Arts Graphiques', Revue du Louvre, 3, 2001, pp. 19-22
2001

Musée Paul-Dupuy, Les collectionneurs toulousains du XVIIIe siècle: L'Académie royale de peinture et architecture (exh. cat. Musée Paul-Dupuy, 17 January - 30 April 2001), Toulouse 2001
2002

P. Rosenberg, Le livre des Saint-Aubin, Paris 2002
2003

C.B. Bailey and P. Conisbee, The Age of Watteau, Chardin and Fragonard: Masterpieces of French Genre Painting (exh. cat. National Gallery of Canada, 6 June - 7 September 2003; National Gallery of Art, Washington, 12 October 2003 - 11 January 2004; Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie, 8 February - 9 May 2004), New Haven 2003
2007

C.B. Bailey et al., Gabriel de Saint-Aubin 1724-1780 (exh. cat. Frick Collection, 30 October 2007 - 27 January 2008; Musée du Louvre, 28 February - may 26, 2008), Paris 2007
2018

Wine, Humphrey, National Gallery Catalogues: The Eighteenth Century French Paintings, London 2018

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.