ISABEY (Louis-Gabriel-Eugène) son and pupil of Jean-Baptiste - Lot 120

ISABEY (Louis-Gabriel-Eugène) son and pupil of Jean-Baptiste, the famous miniaturist. SKETCHBOOK. ALGIERS 1830. Sketchbook of 80 sheets (125 x 185 mm.) with more than 240 sketches, in original contemporary boards. Eugène Isabey, one of the most renowned painters and lithographers of seascapes, was appointed draughtsman for the Algiers expedition in 1830. He soon returned to France, where he exhibited at the 1831 Salon. "Towards 1830... the drawing is tighter, the harmonies have more sparkle, as if anticipating the almost pure, brilliant tones worthy of a Delacroix in Morocco, which are those in his notebook of Algiers and the surrounding area. Enriched by numerous sketches, scenes with several characters, Arab types, landscapes, seaside forts, beasts of burden and horsemen are all included. Sepias, watercolors and twenty pages of notes by the artist reveal his impressions. Some record details and the color of costumes, others are notations of attitudes. These indications of place range from La Porte de Babel Oued de La Fontaine des Platanes beyond Mustapha to an Arab at prayer on the way to the Birkadem camp". (P. Miquel: Eugène Isabey, 1980, vol.I, p. 231, who quotes the texts of numerous notes from this notebook).