étienne-frédéric Lignon (paris 1779 – 1833) Tobie, After Raphaël

“He was the best burinist of the 19th century”. This is how Henri Beraldi, one of the most illustrious collectors and lovers of prints of the past century, described the Parisian artist Etienne-Frédéric Lignon in his anthology in several volumes published in 1885. Responding to the growing demand of an erudite clientele eager for qualitative reproductions of Italian masterpieces, the engravers of interpretations foreshadowed the advent of contemporary photography. With an excellent drawing education he received from the neoclassical Antoine-Alexandre Morel (1765-1829), Lignon developed an ornate technique, to the delight of aesthetes and collectors of his time. Contributing to his popularity, he exhibited regularly at the Salon from 1810 to 1833, for which he won a medal in 1810 and 1819 for several engravings after various painted compositions by Guido Reni, Raphaël, Girodet and Fragonard. Although inspired by the soft and harmonious line of the second Raphaelesque style, it is through the Nazarene prism that Lignon transposes Tobie's profile with an incisive and precise line. The singularity of this graphic modulation turns out to be all the more striking in the light of the comparison of the two sets of writing. The atmospheric fluidity provided by the modulations of brown washes and white highlights on Raphaël's preparatory composition (Ill.3) makes it possible to highlight the sculptural quality of our drawing all the more. It constitutes a preparatory study for the engraving (Ill. 1) for the head in profile of the young Tobias after the painting by Raphaël (Ill. 2). Friend, fellow traveler, protector and guide, the angel Raphael accompanies Tobias throughout his spiritual journey in search of the cure for his father's blindness, of which the Christic fish is the key; that of the healing of souls reviving the divine heart present in each man. The original work was commissioned from the prince of painters by the Neapolitan Giambattista del Doce to adorn his private chapel dedicated to Saint Rosalie in the Church of San Domenico Maggiore, in Naples. It was in the 17th century that the raphaelesque Madonna and Fish began its voyage to Spain following its acquisition by the viceroy of Philip IV. Enthroned, the Virgin holds the child Christ on her knees. On his left, Saint Jerome dressed in the cardinal robe reads the Vulgate, which he himself translated. The Archangel Raphael, doubly represented, symbolically in the form of a lion and humanly incarnated next to the young Tobias, tenderly guides his left hand towards the child Jesus, while his right hand swings at the end of a thin blue lace the rescue fish.