During the eighteenth century, a group of graphic artists distinguished not so much for their artistic gifts as for their craftsmanly skill worked in the shadow of the official Paris art scene. One of them was the draughtsman and engraver Jacques Rigaud, who in his oeuvre of roughly 140 sheets left a multifaceted documentation of his time. Important events as well as notable structures and city views are among them. There is also a series of marine views - doubtless owing to his beginnings in a harbour city. These graphics, prepared for in great detail, are of a historical importance that generally exceeds their artistic qualities.
With Jacques Regaud we once again recognise the role of the mediator to a broader public of extraordinary experiences reserved for only a specific social class through the medium of graphics.
