Dugourc, Jean-Démosthène (1749-1825)

Embroidered panel, designed by Jean Dugourc Embroidered panel, designed by Jean Dugourc Courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Yor, acc. no: 2006.519a, b

Jean Démosthène Dugourc (1749-1825) was a French designer, who worked for various royal and noble families in the late eighteenth century. His clients included the French nobility and the royal houses of Europe. In 1780 he was named as designer to the Comte de Provence (the future Louis XVIII) and helped to redecorate the Château de Brunoy (just southeast of Paris).

The example given of his work illustrated in this entry is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (USA). It is one of a pair of panels designed for a pleasure palace called Casa del Labrador in Aranjuez, just south of Madrid (Spain). The palace was owned by King Charles IV of Spain (r. 1788-1808). The two panels were made between 1791-1803. They consist of a woven silk and metal thread ground material, which was further embellished with multi-coloured chenille thread and floss silk embroidery. They are about 270 x 74 cm each in size.

The ground material was woven by Camille Pernon (1753-1808) in Lyon, but it is unknown who embroidered the landscape. It is likely, however, that it was carried out in a professional atelier, perhaps in Spain, as the landscape design is based upon the countryside around Aranjuez itself.

Digital source (retrieved 12 March 2016).

Wikipedia.

Metropolitan Museum of Art online catalogue (retrieved 22 June 2016).

GVE 

Last modified on Monday, 03 October 2016 18:17