Romantic Drawing Album 1830 Portrait Animated Scene Caricature St. Charlet 51 Sheets

Album amicorum d'Amélie Charron, 1830-1831, by Sylvain Robinet, leaves after Charlet / Pigal ...novel by Béranger

Rare album amicorum dated 1830-1831, belonging to Mlle Amélie Charron, from the château of the Bosc family, Bordeaux merchants and notables. The set comprises 51 leaves, with numerous watercolors, washes, ink and pencil drawings, captioned scenes, satirical compositions, travel views, historical subjects and genre scenes. Album size: 30 x 23 cm. The main views measure approximately 20 x 13 cm.

The album bears a handwritten presentation inscription: "Album appartenant à Mlle Amélie Charron", with mention of Donnezac, Sunday, September 8, 1834. Another annotation reads, "50 precious drawings copied from Charlet, tastefully done". The set can be traced back to Sylvain Robinet, mentioned in the provenance notes, executed after Nicolas-Toussaint Charlet for Pierre-Jean de Béranger's chansonnier et populaire universe.

This point gives the album its major interest: this is no mere decorative collection, but a sincere, personal album, composed in a cultivated milieu, with a real unity of hand and narrative coherence. The strokes are lively, alert and often funny, with constant attention to costumes, attitudes, expressions and little scenes from popular life. The hand is homogeneous: the same frames, the same way of posing figures, the same taste for brown, gray and bluish washes, the same sense of contour and anecdote. This unity reinforces the intimate character of the album, conceived as a veritable compendium of memory, wit and taste.

The subjects are fully in keeping with the Romantic universe of 1830: soldiers, old grognards, popular scenes, comic dialogues, political allusions, bourgeois interiors, monks, peasants, cabarets, inns, military scenes and moral historiettes, popular tenderness, social satire, Napoleonic remembrance, Romantic taste for history, song humor and keen observation of human types.

Visible scenes include "L'Alchimiste", "Le petit page", "Crois-tu Pauline, qu'il me trouvera bien?", "Il est parti! ", "Louis XI", "Le Marquis de Carabas", "Ça veut raisonner peinture", "Les Gueux", "Y m'dit que dut dit-y", "Vieux habits, vieux galons", "Redonne imbécile", "Mon Rodolphe, donne un baiser à ton Amanda", a scene under the sign "Parlez au portier", as well as a composition entitled "Conclusion du conte", accompanied by a handwritten moral. Several leaves are dated 1830 or 1831.

Some compositions refer directly to the political and social climate of the 1830s. The sheet dated July 27, 1830, captioned "Bonne nouvelle... Voilà la guerre civile qui commence!", takes on particular documentary value in the context of the Trois Glorieuses. The album blends fantasy, theater, song, satire and immediate history. It's precisely this absence of academic coldness that makes it so charming: the scenes are done with wit, but also with affection for the characters depicted.

Travel and architectural views further broaden the interest of the whole: interior of the San Pedro convent in Seville, cloister scenes, seascapes, boats, villages, mountains, horsemen, ports and picturesque scenes. The album thus brings together a European and popular imagination, between Spain, the Mediterranean, French scenes, military memories and romantic fantasy.

Technically, the watercolors and washes show a supple, narrative execution, with well-placed highlights of color. Faces are expressive, costumes carefully differentiated, scenes constructed like little playlets. The handwritten captions, often ironic or moral, play a full part in the work. They are not mere titles: they set the tone, the rhythm and the spirit of the album.

Condition: album preserved in its original condition, with heavy wear to the binding, rubbing, damaged spine, worn boards, dull corners, traces, foxing, soiling, yellowing of the paper, small tears, folds, edge brittleness and localized accidents. Some leaves show moisture marks, transfer marks, small gaps or deformations of the paper. However, the set remains very legible, complete as indicated with 51 leaves, and of great conservation charm. See photos.

Dimensions: album 30 x 23 cm; main views approx. 20 x 13 cm. All views available on request.