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Artist or maker

Saint-Aubin, Charles-Germain de (b.1721, d.1786)

Date

c 1740-c 1775 {nd}

Place of production

Paris, France

Medium

watercolour, ink and graphite on paper

Type of object

drawings

Accession number

675.291

One of a set, see others ▸

A skeleton facing right clasps a tall candle held by a friar or monk, shown in left profile, raising its bony left hand to the flame as if to extinguish it. The friar's mouth is open and he leans back from the flame.

The friar is tonsured. He wears a white tunic with a black scapular and cowl. Behind him and to the right is an empty armchair and a dining table piled with dishes and bottles. Three more bottles – two on their sides – litter the floor. The figure of a woman, drawn in pencil, can faintly be seen seated at the far side of the table. She is eating.

Beneath, an ornamental S-scroll runs the width of the page. At its centre is a volute (viewed head-on) from which five short arms of foliate form radiate downwards, like sunbeams or petals on a flower.

Commentary

Curatorial commentary

The monk's white habit and black scapular identifies him as belonging to the Cistercians, a monastic order known for its austerity. The drawing is one of several in the “Livre de Caricatures” that criticises the church, highlighting the gluttony, greed and hypocricy of the clergy and monastic orders (cf. 675.308, 675.381). One of several images in the “Livre de Caricatures” on the theme of Vanitas, this drawing invokes the European tradition of showing Death as a skeleton from whom none can escape (cf. 675.133, 675.323).
The context of this drawing is probably the government’s move from the 1760s to reform religious communities in France, not least by reducing their number. From 1766, the royal “Commission des Réguliers” undertook this task, in a process which Charles-Germain de Saint-Aubin evokes in a number of drawings (Cf. 675.299, 675.342).

Physical description

Dimensions (mm) / weight (mg)

187 x 132

Inscriptions

J'en ai bien mouché d'autres
Inscription
Inscribed by Charles-Germain de Saint-Aubin, below image, in ink

291
Pagination
Top right corner, in ink

Translation of inscription

I have snuffed out many others

Language

French

History

Part of

Livre de Caricatures tant bonnes que mauvaises. 675.1-389

Collection

Waddesdon (National Trust)
Bequest of James de Rothschild, 1957

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