Description
The physionotrace, invented by Gilles-Louis Chrétien in 1786, traced a sitter’s profile mechanically and reduced it to a small engraved medallion: the first portrait technique cheap enough for the middle classes. This contemporary album gathers ninety such portraits drawn by Fouquet or Quenedey and engraved by Chrétien between 1788 and 1794 — deputies, scholars, actresses and citizens of revolutionary Paris, from Bailly to Robespierre — many with contemporary manuscript identifications. This is a faithful print-on-demand facsimile of the 1788-1794 edition, reproduced in full from a library copy. The historical text is reproduced without modification; only the format, margins and legibility have been reset for modern printing.
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