Trained as an engraver, Jean Berain explored the freedom of an art form that led him to the elegant work we know. His flexible line quickly influenced all the decorative arts, anchoring it further in the Louis XIV style’s historic excellence.
Beauvais workshop, early 18th century, after cartoons by Jean Berain (1640-1711), Bacchus sous un dais architecture (Bacchus Beneath an Architectural Canopy), wool and polychrome silk tapestry, 215 x 210 cm/84.65 x 82.68 in.
Paris, Drouot, April 2, 2014. Christophe Joron-Derem auction house.
Result: €13,500
The French Renaissance was still fresh in people’s memories when the 17 th century dawned with wide, opulent plant motifs. Without ever denying this heritage, Jean Berain, also known as Jean I Berain (1640-1711), created a new, assertive style that epitomizes the Louis XIV period. Its genesis can be seen in his pattern books of ornaments for arquebusiers (an artisan who crafts an arquebus, a portable gun supported by a tripod) and locksmiths published in the 1660s. Young Berain had just left his native Lorraine for Paris, where his career quickly took off. He brought with him the influence of the Lorraine Mannerists, a penchant for vegetal architecture and grotesques in unusual but delightfully light-spirited compositions: musical fauns rub…
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