GOUSSIER, Louis-Jacques

Marine Pavillons, various nautical flags,  1770 circa. Size: ~10 x 16 inches. Style: Hand coloured copperplate engraving. Condition: Good. Later water-colored.

One of a set of three nautical flags antique engravings. These extremely rare hand colored copperplates have been selected from the famous Diderot and D’Alembert “Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers (Encyclopedia, or a systematic dictionary of the sciences, arts, and crafts), an encyclopedia published in France between 1751 and 1766, with later supplements and revisions in 1772, 1777 and 1780 and numerous foreign editions and later derivatives.

Louis-Jacques Goussier (Paris 1722 – Paris 1799) was a French illustrator and encyclopedist. He is famous for his work on Diderot’s encyclopedia. He was the first drawer to be hired on that project, in 1747 and he did himself more than 900 plates and directed the drawing of the others. Some call Goussier the third encyclopedist, after Diderot and d’Alembert. Goussier spent ten years visiting people of all arts and techniques (textile, smith, mill, glass, etc.), and twenty-five years drawing. He also wrote sixty-one articles.

Diderot’s “Encyclopedia,” a landmark work of the Enlightenment that depicted the arts and sciences, and the tools and methods of artisans and trade people in a methodical and thorough way. The entire encyclopedia was published between 1751 and 1772, and comprised 17 volumes of text and 11 volumes of plates.

The marvellous detailed plates show how everything in the period was made. It had a huge impact on its own time, and is highly valued by present-day historians as a record of the techniques and vocations of the pre-Industrial world. It is also a great resource for collectors, art and craftspeople.