From 1892 to 1966, current and former students of the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts (ENSBA) held an annual, elaborately costumed ball, many at the Moulin Rouge, the Salle Wagram, or the Parc des Expositions Porte de Versailles.

Beginning in 1900 each ball had a specific historic theme, often derived from an ancient text or inspired by an exotic foreign culture. This invitation [above and below] lists some of the themes.

The invitations posted here are some of the more modest, with the risqué examples held back. The balls themselves became notorious for nudity and debaucherous activities, the students trying to out-do themselves with each year. We are told the event ended the next morning with “a procession through the Latin Quarter, a romp around the Louvre, and a march over the Pont du Carrousel to the Théâtre de l’Odéon, where the party goers would disband.”

Costumes and masks were absolutely required however, “the soldier—the dress suit, black or in color— the monk—the blouse—the domino—kitchen boy—loafer—bicyclist, and other nauseous types” were prohibited.

The Graphic Arts Collection recently acquired invitations for the Bal des Quat’Z’Arts from the following years: 1912, 1917, 1923, 1925, 1926, 1928, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, and 1956.

Happily, a website has been established to bring together the history of these mad balls, located at: http://www.4zarts.org/

A collection of 27 invitations to the Bal des Quat’Z’Arts, 1912-1956. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2019- in process

Nicolas Berey (ca.1610-1665). Grande vue panoramique de Paris sous Louis XIV, Prise de Ménilmontant. [at top] Lutetiae, vulgo Paris, Urbis Galliarum primariae, non Europae solius, sed orbis. Totius celeberrimae prospectus, N. Berey ex. Dédiés à Messieurs les Prévosts des Marchands et Echevins de la Ville de Paris, par leur très humble serviteur N. (Nicolas) Berey = Great panoramic view of Paris under Louis XIV, taken from Ménilmontant [20th arrondissement]. Paris, France, the principal city, not only in Europe but the world. Populous in all perspectives. Dedicated to the directors of the merchants and aldermen of the City of Paris, by their very humble servant N. (Nicolas) Berey. Paris, chez N. Berey, Près les Augustins aux deux Globes, avec privilège du Roy, ca. 1655. Acquired in part with funds provided by the Friends of the Princeton University Library. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2019- in process

With sincere thanks to the Friends of the Princeton University Library, the Graphic Arts Collection has acquired this nearly 8 foot assembled panorama of Paris from around 1655. Gravée [Gravure] à l’eau-forte et au burin par Noël Cochin (Troyes 1622-Venise 1695) et imprimée sur 4 feuilles de papier verge. = Etched and engraved by Noël Cochin, printed on 4 sheets of laid paper.

 
The central engraving is completed at the top by the title (carved in wood so letters print white) “Lutetiae, vulgo Paris, Urbis Galliarum primariae, non Europae solius, sed orbis. Totius celeberrimae prospectus, N. Berey ex.” and at the bottom and sides by 18 prints representing the King, the Duke of Anjou, and 16 monuments or particular views of Paris. The panorama forms a circle from the Abbey of Saint-Antoine on the left (southeast) to Montmartre in the north.

Note the words “Totius celeberrimae prospectus.” With more than four hundred thousand inhabitants in the 1650s, Paris was the most heavily populated city in Europe. This prospect conveys its density, showing the city packed into a basin in the midst of hills in which it would later rise, causing the windmill sentries to disappear. Cochin assigns the starring roles to the churches, which provide the only important verticals besides those of the strongholds of the Bastille and the Temple.

An additional 18 columns of letterpress text in French and Latin form the bottom row, listing and describing the views presented (loosely translated, Brief Description of the Estate, Grandeur, and remarkable particularity of the City, ‘University of Paris.’).

See also: Catalogue de livres et estampes relatifs à l’Histoire de la ville de Paris et de ses environs provenant de la Bibliothèque de Feu M. Hippolyte Destailleur, n°157.

Sue Reed, French Prints from the Age of the Musketeers, no. 59.

As indicated by his sign, “Aux deux globes” on the Quai des Augustins, Nicolas Berey primarily sold maps and topographical views. He seems to have opened the shop around 1639 and joined with Antoine de Fer to buy the copper plates from Christopher Tassin. It was a neighborhood where other publishers and merchants of intaglio prints were also located at that time. Among his other cartographic works is the Carte Generale de toutes les postes et traverses de France, published around 1640, with all the routes and stops of the postal services in France in the second quarter of the 17th century.

At his death in June 1665, his son Nicolas (II) continued the publishing and running of the shop. Unfortunately, only two years later the young Nicolas also died, leaving the shop and printing in the hands of Alexis-Hubert Jaillot, who was married to Jeanne, the daughter of Nicolas and half-sister of Nicolas (II).

In an interesting side note, the engraver Noël Cochin (brother to Nicolas Cochin) was illiterate, quite a rare for a printmaker at that time. Since he could not sign (engrave) his name, he would draw a small cavalier, charging on horseback, at the bottom of documents and prints.

Now on deposit in the Graphic Arts Collection, thanks to Bruce Willsie, Class of 1986, is a rare engraving: Robert Barker (1739-1806) and Henry Aston Barker (1774-1856), [Key to the panorama ‘London from the roof of the Albion Mills’], ca. 1792. Graphic Arts Collection.

Patented in 1787 by Robert Barker, the 365° painted panorama transported spectators into a virtual reality of place and time. Advertisements read: “There is no Deception of Glasses, or any other whatever; the View being only a fair Sketch, displaying at once a Circle of a very extraordinary Extent, the same as if on the Spot; forming, perhaps, one of the most Picturesque Views in Europe.”

In 1791, Barker’s first London show, View of London from the Roof of the Albion Mills, began at the five-story, steam-powered flour mill on the south side of Blackfriars Bridge designed by Samuel Wyatt in 1786 but gutted by fire in March 1791.* After London, the painting toured Europe and many of the brochures or descriptions given to the audiences were printed in several languages.

“[Robert] Barker’s Panorama of London from Albion Mill does not survive, although contemporary visual evidence is offered by two descriptive orientation keys and a set of commemorative aquatints. Panorama visitors were given such descriptive keys gratis, not only as souvenirs, but also to inform them of significant sights: they are themselves an important response to Barker’s epistemological anxiety about his painting.

Two orientation keys survive for Barker’s Panorama of London: the first, an undated and cheaply printed [engraving], which can be speculatively dated to 1792, and the second, entitled Panorama de Londres, with the text in French and English, probably issued in Paris c. 1803. –Markman Ellis, “Spectacles within doors’: Panoramas of London in the 1790s” https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/pdfplus/10.3366/E1354991X0800024X

The panorama’s scenes weren’t what you might expect. One set of the six memorial aquatints can be found at the British Museum, and a mounted set is held at the Government Art Collection, Queen’s Yard, 179a Tottenham Court Road, London [see below].

The British Museum has two versions of the key print, describing one as written in French and Dutch, although it appears to be the same as Princeton’s engraving in English, French, and German.

Robert Barker (1736-1796), London from the Roof of the Albion Mills: a Facsimile of Robert and Henry Aston Barker’s Panorama of 1792-3 / introduction by Ralph Hyde ; keys by Peter Jackson (London: Guildhall Library Publications in association with the London Topographical Society, 1988). Marquand Library Oversize DA682 .B37e

“This 360 degree view is taken from the roof of the Albion sugar mills at the S. end of Blackfriars Bridge, to which vantage point Henry Aston Barker was sent to make sketches by his father, Robert Barker, in the winter of 1790-91 … The son’s drawings were then greatly enlarged and painted in distemper on canvas by Robert Barker to create a 1,479 sq. ft. exhibition panorama. This at first was exhibited at … Leicester Square … Birnie’s aquatints of H.A. and R. Barker’s London panorama were prepared and published while it was still on exhibition in Castle Street and testify to the show’s popularity. … Altick records that the six aquatints served as the source for America’s first panorama show. Taken to the United States by a gentleman named Laing, they were copied onto canvas by William Winstanley. The resulting panorama was exhibited in Greenwich Street, New York City, in 1795.”–Ralph Hyde, Gilded Scenes and Shining Prospects: Panoramic Views of British Towns 1575–1900. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale Center for British Art, 1985.

*The fire in the Albion Mills and perhaps Barker’s panorama were the inspiration for
Jerusalem by William Blake [preface to Milton]:
And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon Englands mountains green:
And was the holy Lamb of God,
On Englands pleasant pastures seen!

And did the Countenance Divine,
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here,
Among these dark Satanic Mills?

Bring me my Bow of burning gold:
Bring me my arrows of desire:
Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my Chariot of fire!

I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand:
Till we have built Jerusalem,
In Englands green & pleasant Land.