JEAN-BAPTISTE SEBOIS DU TAILLIS
(Pleudihen-sur-Rance or Sainte-Croix, 18th Century)
View of an Ideal City
Signed, lower right: Sebois Fecit, inuenit
Inscribed in the cartouche, upper center: “Ludovico CV. Decit hic insignia virtu.”
Inscribed, lower center: “Elévation, D’une Tour ou Phare et d’une Ville avec Son port, Dédiées, Á Monseigneur Cardin, François, xavier Le Bret. Chevalier Seigneur de Pantin, Comte de Selles en Berry, Conseiller d’honneur, Ancien Avocat général au Parlement de Paris, Intendant et Commissaire d’eparty par Sa Majesté, pour L’exécution de Ses ordres, En la Province la Province de Bretagne.”
Pen and ink with color washes on paper
21 ½ x 51 ½ inches (55 x 131 cm)
Provenance:
The artist; dedicated and given to:
François-Xavier Cardin Le Bret de Flacourt (1719–1765); by descent to his son:
Paul-Charles-Cardin Le Bret de Flacourt (1748–1804) and his wife Anne-Angélique Armande Georgette Hue de Miromesnil; by descent in the Hue de Miromesnil family until:
With Stephanie Hoppen, London and New York; where acquired in 1999 by:
Private Collection, New York, 1999–2023
This monumental drawing signed “Sebois Fecit, inuenit.” is an imagined cityscape by the French architect and artist Jean-Baptiste Sebois du Taillis.[i] While his life dates are not known, he was active in Brittany from the 1760s to the 1780s and was recorded as living at Ville-Piron in the town of Pleudihen-sur-Rance in 1769. Documents record his restoring and rebuilding several important monuments in the region, including the Abbaye Notre-Dame de Vieuville near Dol in 1772, and the Abbaye Notre-Dame de Coatmalouen in 1782.[ii] He was the son or nephew of Pierre Sebois (1625–1779), a wood sculptor from Saint-Malo, who between 1732 and 1741 carved the paneling and sculptures of the choir of the parochial church of Sainte-Croix, as well as the woodwork in the chapter house.[iii]
The present drawing is both ambitious in scale and complexity. It depicts a fantasy view of an elegant and prosperous port city teeming with life. Elaborate buildings in the latest French Baroque style fill the gated town, while workers, elegant gentry, and coach-borne aristocrats populate the quay. An active harbor occupies the space between the lighthouse and the island town. It is filled with a plethora of sailing ships, large and small, docked and anchored, unfurled and not, mercantile and military. In the distance mountainous islands dotted with castles, lead to the ocean to which sailing ships head. While all the structures appear to be inventions of the author, several relate to known monuments in the province: the building at the center of the fortified island recalls the Bell Tower of the Town Hall of Rennes by Jacques Gabriel, while the spires of the large church to the left are quite close to those of the gothic Cathedrals of Quimper and Saint-Pol-de-Léon. A Corinthian column topped by a sculpture of a king is the tallest structure in the scene. While the pose repeats that of the monument at Reims to the then current King Louis XV (to whom the drawing is dedicated in the escutcheon directly above), the long wig is more typical of his predecessor Louis XIV. The large tower in the left foreground, built on a rock promontory and protected by crenellated fortifications, is meant to be a fantastic lighthouse, the “Tour ou Phare” in the inscription. It is topped by a flag emblazoned with the letter “C,” no doubt an allusion to the surname of the drawing’s dedicatee, François-Xavier Cardin Le Bret de Flacourt (1719–1765). Cardin Le Bret, the Count of Selles, served as the Advocate General of the Grand Council, but more significantly for our drawing, became Intendant, or the King’s administrator, for Brittany from 1753. His coat-of-arms supported by four angels within clouds, appears at the upper right of the drawing.[iv]
The purpose of the drawing remains unknown. It may have been intended as a purely artistic ideation of an ideal city, an implied proposal for a project that Sebois wished to undertake, or simply a demonstration of the author’s architectural prowess as an appeal for patronage. What is evident is that this magnificent drawing was a gift to Cardin Le Bret de Flacourt, from whom it descended to his son and descendants in the Hue de Miromesnil family before emerging on the art market in 1999. It is at present the only known drawing by this elusive architect draughtsman.
[i] We are grateful to Dr. Basile Baudez (written communication, 15 July 2023) for identifying Jean-Baptiste Sebois du Taillis as the author of the drawing and for suggesting the architectural parallels discussed here.
[ii] Beginning in the 17th century, the abbey of Vieuville near Dol underwent substantial reconstruction, which extended well into the second half of the 18th century. In 1772 the structures were still undergoing major repairs and renovations under the direction of Jean-Baptiste. See: Eugène Brébel, Essai historique sur Pleudihen par un Pleudihennais, Rennes, 1916, p. 97.
[iii] Sainte-Croix. Archives municipales de Nantes: GG. 459. (Registre.)—G. in-f, papier, 261 pp. 5 February 5, 1779, age de 94 ans. His work on the parochial church of Sainte-Croix de Quimperlé is recorded in the parish inventory and registry: Le mobilier de l'église paroissiale Sainte-Croix (Quimperlé), https://www.pop.culture.gouv.fr/notice/palissy/IM29003990. J. Des Bouillons, in Bulletin et mémoires de la Société archéologique du Département d’Ille-et-Vilaine, Vol. 42. (1912) p. 29. During the reconstruction of the abbey, Sebois was supervised by Jacques Piou, a road and bridges engineer and the principal architect for religious communities in Brittany during 18th century.
[iv] The Le Bret Family coat-of-arms is a saltire flanked by four martlets, charged by a rampant and langued lion. See: https://man8rove.com/fr/blason/74wn283-le-bret.