{"id":4957,"date":"2025-07-09T12:01:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T10:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/?post_type=newsletter&p=4957"},"modified":"2025-09-16T12:09:22","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T10:09:22","slug":"jean-berain-1640-1711","status":"publish","type":"newsletter","link":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/newsletter\/jean-berain-1640-1711\/","title":{"rendered":"Jean Berain (1640\u22121711)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Claude Duflos (engraver), Joseph Vivien (after), Jean B\u00e9rain<\/em>, 1709, Versailles, Ch\u00e2teaux de Versailles et de Trianon (inv. INV.GRAV.LP 31 bis.70.1)\u00a9 Ch\u00e2teau de Versailles, Dist. RMN \/ \u00a9 EPV<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A brilliant ornamentalist, Jean B\u00e9rain exerted considerable influence on the arts during the reign of Louis XIV. A prolific inventor, he perfected an original taste, which he applied to numerous fields and which had a significant influence on his contemporaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jean B\u00e9rain (after), Two toilet caskets<\/em>, circa 1700\u20131715, New York, Metropolitan Museum (inv. 2011.12 and 2011.13), former Galerie L\u00e9age collection<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Son and grandson of a gunmaker, Jean B\u00e9rain was born in Lorraine in 1640. At a very young age, he emigrated to Paris with his parents to escape the Thirty Years\u2019 War then raging in the region. Initially trained as a gunmaker, he proved to be an outstanding draughtsman. At the age of 19, he published his first collection, Diverses pi\u00e8ces tr\u00e8s utiles pour les Arquebuzi\u00e8res<\/em>, which was an immediate success. His skills were noticed by the Court, and in 1671 he was asked to work for the King\u2019s Cabinet of engraved plates. On this occasion, he probably benefited from the protection of the great Charles Le Brun (1619\u22121690), the king\u2019s first painter. In 1674, B\u00e9rain was appointed draftsman of the King\u2019s Chamber and Cabinet, making him one of the leading Court artists, designing sets and costumes for numerous events, ballets, comedies, carrousels and other celebrations. In 1679, Louis XIV allowed him to take up residence under the Great Gallery of the Louvre, an honor reserved for the kingdom\u2019s finest servants. One of his neighbor there was cabinetmaker and bronzemaker Andr\u00e9-Charles Boulle (1642\u22121732). He enjoyed a brilliant career until the early 18th<\/sup> century, before gradually retiring from 1705 onwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jean B\u00e9rain, Scenery. Stalactite cave with atlantes,<\/em> late 17th<\/sup> century, Stockholm, National Museum (inv. NMH CC 3164)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As early as the 1680s, Jean B\u00e9rain was described by his contemporaries as a \u201cuniversal genius\u201d. His seemingly boundless creativity was applied to sets for a wide variety of Court events, as well as to Jean-Baptiste Lully\u2019s (1632\u22121687) opera sets and aristocratic interior decorations. For the former, he designed everything from costumes and backdrops to stage machinery and lighting. The magic of his designs was still celebrated in the mid-18th<\/sup> century, with Pierre-Jean Mariette declaring that there had never been \u201ctheater decorations better understood or costumes richer and more tasteful\u201d than his. He applied an unprecedented sense of harmony, surprise and profusion to interiors. In 1681, he decorated Louis XIV\u2019s medal cabinet at Versailles, covering it with mirrors right up to the ceiling. For the Marquis de Segnelay, son of Colbert, he designed the entire dining room of his ch\u00e2teau de Sceaux after 1685. In 1688, he designed several ceilings for the Prince de Cond\u00e9\u2019s new ch\u00e2teau at Chantilly. Few of his decorations are preserved today. It is mainly through their engraved reproduction that they can be admired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jean II B\u00e9rain (engraver), Jean B\u00e9rain (after), Drawing of a clock made for the King\u2019s small gallery at Versailles, part of the Duc d\u2019Aumont collection in the 18th<\/sup> century<\/em>, circa 1695\u20131705, Stockholm, National Museum (inv. NMH THC 1135)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Among his many designs, B\u00e9rain delivered several furniture and objets d\u2019art models. In 1684, he supervised the creation of a sumptuous eight-legged desk for Louis XIV\u2019s medal cabinet. For the king at Versailles, he also designed a monumental clock and its base, which was never delivered to the sovereign. Included in the collections of the Duc d\u2019Aumont in the 18th<\/sup> century, it has now been lost to history. His work also includes numerous mirror frames, chandeliers, vases, tapestries and torch\u00e8res. B\u00e9rain was also one of the first to design chests of drawers in the late 17th<\/sup> century, a highly innovative piece of furniture. An example in the Wallace Collection by cabinetmaker Alexandre-Jean Oppenordt (1639\u22121715) is based on one of B\u00e9rain\u2019s designs. He introduced movement and curves into furniture, breaking with the monumentality of early Louis XIV furniture.
More than his furniture designs, B\u00e9rain revolutionized the decorative arts with his decors. He developed an art of the grotesque, punctuated by fantastic figures, human, floral or animal. His compositions were widely adopted by his contemporaries: Boulle, another eminent artistic figure in the reign of Louis XIV, literally cited him for the decoration on the back of a toilet mirror now in the Wallace Collection (inv. F50).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Alexandre-Jean Oppenordt (cabinetmaker), Jean B\u00e9rain (after), Chest of drawers<\/em>, circa 1695, London, Wallace Collection (inv. F405)\u00a9 The Wallace Collection<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Marguerin Daigremont (engraver), Jean B\u00e9rain (after), Ornaments invented by J. B\u00e9rain<\/em>, \u201cMarquetry desk, chandelier, centerpiece, ewer and console\u201d, 18th<\/sup> century, Paris, INHA<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

B\u00e9rain\u2019s influence on his contemporaries was as great as his genius. He created a distinctive taste, celebrated by his peers and widely disseminated through engraving in France and throughout Europe. The Swedish architect Nicod\u00e8me Tessin le jeune (1654\u22121728), to whom he was close, relentlessly praised his merits to the Swedish court and introduced his designs to Scandinavia.
Breaking away from the monumentality of the Grand Si\u00e8cle, B\u00e9rain introduced a fantasy and lightness that would later lead to rocaille. Somewhere between theatrical monumentality and lyricism, his compositions are a veritable poetry of ornament, underpinned by accurate proportions and a highly refined choice of motifs. His elegant decors, easier and quicker to implement than the great classical decors, also reflect the taste of a more fashion-conscious society. They heralded the 18th<\/sup>-century race for novelty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nicolas Sageot (cabinetmaker), Jean B\u00e9rain (decor after), Boulle marquetry chest of drawers<\/em>, Louis XIV period, Galerie L\u00e9age<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jean B\u00e9rain was a key player in the formation of Louis XIV taste, and his influence was considerable. Admired and imitated by his contemporaries, his work continued to be appreciated in later centuries. Under the Second Empire, his engraved work was published in several collections, and the variety of his ornaments continues to surprise us today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bibliography<\/strong>
J\u00e9r\u00f4me de La Gorce, B\u00e9rain. Dessinateur du Roi Soleil<\/em>, Herscher, 1986
Motifs ornementaux de l\u2019\u0152uvre de B\u00e9rain. Ornemaniste du Roy<\/em>, \u00c9ditions Vial, 2011<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Claude Duflos (engraver), Joseph Vivien (after), Jean B\u00e9rain<\/em>, 1709, Versailles, Ch\u00e2teaux de Versailles et de Trianon (inv. INV.GRAV.LP 31 bis.70.1)\u00a9 Ch\u00e2teau de Versailles, Dist. RMN \/ \u00a9 EPV<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n

A brilliant ornamentalist, Jean B\u00e9rain exerted considerable influence on the arts during the reign of Louis XIV. A prolific inventor, he perfected an original taste, which he applied to numerous fields and which had a significant influence on his contemporaries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4953,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","inline_featured_image":false,"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4957","newsletter","type-newsletter","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"url_news1":{"simple_value_formatted":"","value_formatted":"","value":"","field":{"ID":438,"key":"field_64c00914a1189","label":"URL","name":"url_news1","aria-label":"","prefix":"acf","type":"url","value":null,"menu_order":0,"instructions":"","required":0,"id":"","class":"","conditional_logic":0,"parent":437,"wrapper":{"width":"","class":"","id":""},"only_front":0,"frontend_admin_display_mode":"edit","no_values_message":"","wp-typography":"none","default_value":"","placeholder":"","wpml_cf_preferences":1,"_name":"url_news1","_valid":1}}},"mcc_id":null,"mcc_type":null,"mcc_status":null,"mcc_create_time":null,"mcc_send_time":null,"mcc_emails_sent":null,"mcc_delivery_status":null,"mcc_content_type":null,"mcc_archive_url":null,"mcc_long_archive_url":null,"mcc_plain_text":null,"mcc_content_html":null,"mcc_recipients":null,"mcc_list_id":null,"mcc_list_name":null,"mcc_segment_text":null,"mcc_recipient_count":null,"mcc_settings":null,"mcc_tracking":null,"mcc_social_card":null,"mcc_report_summary":null,"mcc___links":null,"mcc__edit_lock":null,"mcc__edit_last":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletter\/4957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletter"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/newsletter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4957"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletter\/4957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4958,"href":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletter\/4957\/revisions\/4958"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}