Melchior Tavernier
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Melchior Tavernier (1594 – May 1665) was a French
Heritage, early life, and training
He was the son of Gabriel II Tavernier (1566–1607),[1] an engraver, who in 1573 moved with his father Gabriel I Tavernier (born Bailleul c. 1520; died 1614) and his brother Melchior Tavernier (born 1544 or 1564; died 1641)[2] from Antwerp to Paris.[3][4] The younger Melchior Tavernier's mother was Suzanne Tonnelier. He had four siblings: Jean-Baptiste (who became a well-known writer and traveller), Gabriel III, Daniel, and Marie. His father, Gabriel II Tavernier, died in 1607; the inventory after his decease is dated 23 February 1607.[5] By a contract of 30 June 1609, the younger Melchior Tavernier apprenticed with Thomas de Leu for four years at the age of fourteen, and from this Préaud et al. concluded he was born in 1594 or 1595.[5][6] According to the Haag Brothers, he was baptised in 1594.[7] It is often very difficult, with our current state of knowledge, to distinguish the work of the younger Melchior Tavernier from that of his uncle.[5]
In 1589, when the
After Gabriel I Tavernier returned to Paris, he resided on the
Later life and career
In 1618 Melchior Tavernier became an intaglio engraver and printer to the king (graveur et imprimeur en taille-douce du Roi) with an emphasis on historical subjects and maps.[11] On 2 April 1619 he married Sarah Pitten and on 30 April he purchased from his mother the assets of the family business and took over the lease of its premises, 'La Huppe' on the Pont Marchand. The couple had at least three daughters (Suzanne, Marie-Madeleine and Marie-Catherine) who were still living on 16 March 1638, when an inventory was drawn up after the death of their mother.[5]
Abraham Bosse became an apprentice in the Tavernier shop in 1620, and Tavernier became one of his publishers.[12] Between 1623 and 1629 Ludolph Büsinck made woodcuts for Tavernier after drawings by Georges Lallemand.[13] Tavernier has an important place in the history of the French map trade. He published and sold maps and atlases of, among others, Henry Hondius, Jan Jansson, and Nicolas Tassin.[14] He also published, beginning in 1632, early works by Nicolas Sanson, often referred to as the founder of French cartography.[15]
Initially Tavernier continued to operate the shop at 'La Huppe' on the
By a contract of 24 April 1658 Tavernier married Jeanne Gobille, sister of Gédéon Gobille, a seller of etchings. An illness in 1661 incapacitated Tavernier, and in May 1665 his wife had a document drawn up before a notary to protect her interests. Tavernier died shortly after: the inventory after his decease is dated 25 May 1665.[16]
Works
Works that he published include:
- Plan de la ville de Paris (1630).
- Plan de la ville de Toulouse (1631).
- INHA. Infoat Architectura.
- Pierre Le Muet, Règles des cinq ordres d'architecture de Vignolle (1632). Info at Architectura.
- Carte géographique des postes qui traversent la France (1632).
- Le vray et primitif heritage de la couronne de France (1642).
- Jean Du Breuil, Perspective pratique (1642). Info at Architectura.
Gallery
-
World map (1642)
-
Map of Europe (1642)
-
Map of England (1642)
-
Isle de France (1643)
Notes
- ^ Préaud et al. 1987, pp. 287–290, give: "Tavernier Gabriel II (mi-XVIe siècle–1607"; Scott 2004, p. 251 gives: "Tavernier, Gabriel (1566–1610)".
- ^ Nagler 1848, states Melchior Tavernier was born in 1544 in Antwerp, where Melchior's interest in geography was stimulated by Abraham Ortelius, and died in 1641, when he was 97 years old. Haag 1859, p. 344, point out that Nagler was unaware of the younger Melchior Tavernier. Préaud et al. 1987, pp. 287–289, state Melchior I Tavernier was born circa 1544 and died in 1641. Benezit 2006b says Melchior Tavernier was "born in 1564 (?) in Antwerp, died 1641, in Paris"; Scott 2004, p. 251 gives: "Tavernier, Melchior I the elder (1564–1641)".
- ^ Préaud et al. 1987, p. 287.
- ^ Benezit 2006a.
- ^ a b c d e f g Préaud et al. 1987, pp. 287–290.
- ^ Grivel 1996.
- ^ Haag 1859, p. 344.
- ^ a b Ballon 1991, pp. 213–214.
- ^ Fordham 1909, pp. 133–149.
- ^ Bouguereau 1594.
- ^ Nagler 1848, p. 145, unaware of the younger Melchior Tavernier, states: "Im Jahre 1618 wurde er [Melchior Tavernier] Kupferstecher und Kupferdrucker des Königlichen Hauses." ("In 1618 he became intaglio engraver and printer to the king.") In 1620, when Melchior I Tavernier was sued by the book printers (imprimeurs-libraires) for selling printed books, which as an intaglio printer (imprimeur en taille-douce), he was not permitted to do, he testified that his father [Gabriel I Tavernier], who died in 1614, had operated his shop from 1573 to 1614, selling all kinds of intaglio figure books (Préaud et al. 1987, pp. 288–289; Pedley 1981, p. 37). Consistent with this, Benezit 2006b states Melchior Tavernier (1564?–1641) was engraver to the king in 1614.
- ^ Goldstein 2012, p. 5.
- ^ Anonymous 1996.
- ^ a b Pedley 1981, p. 36.
- ^ Scott 2004, pp. 102 (Sanson), 251 (Tavernier).
- ^ a b Préaud et al. 1987, p. 290.
- ^ Goldstein 2012, p. 44.
- ^ "Tavernier, Melchior (1594-1665)", Notice de personne, BnF.
Bibliography
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- Anonymous (1996). "Büsinck. Ludolph", vol. 5, p. 294, in ISBN 9781884446009.
- Ballon, Hilary (1991). The Paris of Henri IV: Architecture and Urbanism. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. ISBN 9780262023092.
- Benezit (2006a). "Tavernier, Gabriel", vol. 13, p. 732, in ISBN 9782700030709.
- Benezit (2006b). "Tavernier, Melchior", vol. 13, p. 733, in ISBN 9782700030709.
- Bouguereau, Maurice (1594). Le Théâtre françois, où sont comprises les chartes générales et particulières de la France. Tours: Maurice Bouguereau. Copy at Gallica.
- Fordham, Herbert George (1909). Studies in carto-bibliography, British and French, and in the bibliography of itineraries and road-books. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Copyat Internet Archive.
- Goldstein, Carl (2012). Print Culture in Early Modern France: Abraham Bosse and the Purposes of Print. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107012141.
- Grivel, Marianne (1996). "Leu, Thomas de", vol. 19, p. 257, in ISBN 9781884446009.
- Haag, Eugène; Émile Haag (1859). "Tavernier", vol. 9, p. 344, in La France protestante: ou, Vies des protestants français, 10 volumes. Paris, 1846–1859. Hathitrust catalog record.
- Nagler, Georg Kaspar (1848). "Tavernier, Melchior", vol. 18, pp. 144–147, in Neues allgemeines Künstler-Lexicon, 22 volumes. Munich: E. A. Fleischmann, 1835–1852. HathiTrust catalog record.
- Pedley, Mary Spoonberg (1981). "The Map Trade in Paris, 1650-1825," Imago Mundi, vol. 33 (1981), pp. 33–45. JSTOR 1150782.
- ISBN 2903181608.
- Scott, Valerie, editor (2004). Tooley's Dictionary of Mapmakers, revised edition, Q–Z. Riverside, Connecticut: Early World Press. ISBN 9780906430217.
- Walsh, Amy L. (1996). "Mariette family", vol. 20, pp. 415–418, in ISBN 9781884446009.