Login
Login

Philippe Mercier

{{Short description|Painter (1689–1760)}}

{{EngvarB|date=January 2018}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}}

{{Infobox artist

|name = Philippe Mercier

|image = John Faber II after Philip Mercier, Philip Mercier, 1735, NGA 121129.jpg

|caption = John Faber the Younger, Philip Mercier, 1735, mezzotint after Mercier's untraced self-portrait; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

|birth_date = 1689

|birth_place = Berlin, Brandenburg-Prussia

|death_date = {{death date and age|1760|7|18|1689|mf=y}}

|death_place = London, Kingdom of Great Britain

|field = Painting and etching

|movement = Rococo

|education = Antoine Pesne

|patrons = Frederick, Prince of Wales

}}

Philippe Mercier (also spelled Philip Mercier; 1689 – 18 July 1760) was an artist of French Huguenot descent from the German realm of Brandenburg-Prussia (later Kingdom of Prussia), usually defined to French school.{{harvnb|Bataille|1930|p=409}}, {{harvnb|Bénézit|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/dictionnairecrit07pari/page/340/mode/1up 340]}}, {{harvnb|Ingamells|1996|p=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofart21turn/page/147/mode/1up 147]}}, and {{harvnb|Hopkinson|2016|p=136}}, define Mercier as a painter of French school. Active in England for most of his working life, Mercier is considered one of the first practitioners of the Rococo style, and is credited with influencing a new generation of 18th-century English artists.{{harvnb|Waterhouse|1952|p=127}}: "Never a first-rate artist, he had a flair for novelty in the French manner, and he seems not only to have been responsible for the introduction of the French genre style into English painting, but to have played a considerable part in popularising the 'conversation piece'"; {{harvnb|Eidelberg|2013}}: "Philippe Mercier (c. 1689-1760) looms large in the history of English eighteenth-century art. One of the first practitioners of the new rococo style, Mercier’s genre subjects and portraits provided the foundation for William Hogarth and the next generation of English artists."

Life

Mercier was born {{circa|1689–1691}} in Berlin, the son of Pierre Mercier (died 1729, Dresden), a Huguenot tapestry-worker.{{harvnb|Vertue|1934|p=37}}: "Mr. P. Merciere. painter Born at Berlin, of French extraction." {{harvnb|Walpole|1879|p=[https://archive.org/details/dli.granth.36322/page/703/mode/1up 703]}}, give the painter's age at his death as seventy-one. From Walpole's account, {{harvnb|Ingamells|Raines|1976–1978|pp=1, 8 n. 1}}, and {{harvnb|Ingamells|1996|p=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofart21turn/page/147/mode/1up 147]}}, suggest that Mercier was the Pierre-Phillipe Mercier born in 1689 to Pierre Mercier in Berlin; however, it is noted that a Phillipe Mercier, also the son of a Huguenot tapestry-worker in Berlin, was born in 1691. He studied painting at the Akademie der Wissenschaften of Berlin[http://www.bbaw.de/akademie/chronik.html Academy Webpage] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090429084015/http://www.bbaw.de/akademie/chronik.html |date=29 April 2009 }} and later under Antoine Pesne, who had arrived in Berlin in 1710. Later, he travelled in Italy and France before arriving in London—"recommended by the Court at Hannover"—probably in 1716. He married in London in 1719 and lived in Leicester Fields.

He was appointed principal painter and librarian to the Prince and Princess of Wales at their independent establishment in Leicester Fields, and while he was in favour he painted various portraits of royalty, and no doubt many of the nobility and gentry. Of the royal portraits, those of the Prince of Wales and of his three sisters, painted in 1728, were all engraved in mezzotint by John Simon, and that of the three elder children of the Prince of Wales by John Faber the Younger in 1744. This last (entitled Playing Soldiers{{cite web|url=http://www.dia.org/object-info/14fed32a-70f6-4696-ae88-da5f31d8010b.aspx?position=1|title=Playing Soldier|publisher=Detroit Institute of Arts|year=2015|access-date=10 September 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222095307/http://www.dia.org/object-info/14fed32a-70f6-4696-ae88-da5f31d8010b.aspx?position=1|archive-date=22 December 2015|df=dmy-all}}) was a typical piece of Mercier's composition, the children being made the subject of a spirited, if somewhat childish, allegory in their game of play. Prince George is represented with a firelock on his shoulder, teaching a dog his drill, while his little brother and sister are equally occupied in a scene that is aptly used to point a patriotic moral embodied in some verses subjoined to the plate, of which the concluding couplet is as follows:

{{cquote|Illustrious Isle where either sex displays

Such early omens of their future praise!}}

In 1733, Mercier painted a Portrait of 'Frederick, Prince of Wales, playing a violoncello, and his Sisters'. National Portrait Gallery, London. There is an alternative version of the painting in the Royal Collection. In the painting 'The Sense of Hearing', 1744, women are playing violin, violoncello, harpsichord, and flute in the Yale Center for British Art.{{cite web | url=https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:4987 | title=The Sense of Hearing - YCBA Collections Search }}

Mercier lost favour at Court and was replaced as principal painter to Frederick Prince of Wales by John Ellys on October 7, 1736.page 11, Philip Mercier, 1689-1760. An exhibition of paintings and engravings. City Art Gallery, York, 21 June-20 July. Iveagh Bequest, Kenwood, 29 July-28 September, 1969 He 'went into the country' in 1736/7 and took rooms in Covent Garden, London.York City Art Gallery catalogue, 1969 In 1739 he relocated to York, where he focused on 'fancy' pictures concerned with domestic virtueYork City Art Gallery catalogue, 1969 and also practised portrait painting for over ten years, before returning to London in July 1751. In 1752, Mercier went to Portugal at the request of several English merchants along with his family. He did not long remain there, however, but came back to London, where he died in 1760.

John Faber the Younger also engraved six plates of "Rural Life" after Mercier,For an example see https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:52062 and several other subjects of his have survived him.

In August 2016, Mercier's painting Portrait of a Lady (1744) was one of the subjects for episode 19 in the 5th series of the BBC Television series Fake or Fortune?{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b07r1yhf/fake-or-fortune-series-5-4-portraits|title=Fake or Fortune?, Series 5: 4. Portraits|access-date=22 August 2016}}

Mercier's daughter Charlotte was also an artist in her early life, before turning to a life of dissolution and dying in the St James Workhouse two years after her father's death.[http://www.pastellists.com/Articles/MERCIERc.pdf Profile of Claude Mercier] in the Dictionary of Pastellists Before 1800.

Gallery

{{Gallery

|width=200 | height=200

|align=center

|title=Selected works by Philippe Mercier

|L'Escamoteur - Philipper Mercier.jpg

|The Conjurer, {{Circa|1725}}–1730, Louvre, Paris

|Frederick, Prince of Wales, and his sisters by Philip Mercier.jpg

|Frederick, Prince of Wales, and His Sisters, 1733, National Portrait Gallery, London

|File:Bagpipe player mg 0056.jpg

|Bagpipe Player, 1740, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg

|'The Italian Comedians' by Philip Mercier, Cincinnati Art Museum.JPG

|The Italian Comedians, ca. 1735–1740, Cincinnati Art Museum

|Philippe Mercier (1689-1760) - A Girl Holding a Cat - NG 433 - National Galleries of Scotland.jpg

|A Girl Holding a Cat, ca. 1750, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh

|File:'Girl with a Tray' by Philip Mercier, c. 1750, Hermitage.JPG

|Girl with a Tray, late 1740s, Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg

|File:Philippe Mercier (1689-1760) - Comedians by a Fountain - RCIN 401328 - Royal Collection.jpg

|Comedians by a Fountain, ca. 1735, Royal Collection

|File:Philippe Mercier - Le jeune Degustateur.jpg

|The Young Wine Taster, {{Circa|1725}}–1730, Louvre, Paris

|File:Retrato de Handel.jpg

|George Frideric Handel, ca. 1730, Handel House Museum, London

|File:Philippe Mercier (1689-1760) - A Music Party - T00922 - Tate.jpg

|A Music Party, ca. 1735–1740, Tate Britain, London

|File:MercierLoversbyCandlelight.jpg

|Lovers by Candlelight, ca. 1740s, private collection

|File:Mercier The Industrious Dairymaid.jpg

|Rural Life: The Industrious Dairymaid, circa 1740, Private Collection

}}

Gallery

{{Gallery

|width=200 | height=200

|align=center

|title=Rural Life engraved in mezzotint by John Faber Jr. after Philippe Mercier

|File:Faber - Rural Life - A girl resting from haymaking.jpg

|Engraved by John Faber the Younger after Philippe Mercier – ‘’Rural Life - A girl resting from haymaking’’ Chaloner Smith 405 British Museum, London

|File: Faber - Rural Life - Young Male Shearing a Sheep.jpg

|Engraved by John Faber the Younger after Philippe Mercier – ‘’Rural Life - Young Male Shearing a Sheep’’ Chaloner Smith 405 Yale Center for British Art

|File: Faber - Rural Life - A Girl Spinning Thread.jpg

|Engraved by John Faber the Younger after Philippe Mercier – ‘’Rural Life - A Girl Spinning Thread’’ Chaloner Smith 405 Yale Center for British Art

|File:Faber - Rural Life - The Scythemans Refreshment.jpg

|Engraved by John Faber the Younger after Philippe Mercier – ‘’Rural Life - The Scytheman's Refreshment’’ Chaloner Smith 405 Yale Center for British Art

|File: Faber - Rural Life - Youth Playing Bagpipes.jpg

|Engraved by John Faber the Younger after Philippe Mercier – ‘’Rural Life - Youth Playing Bagpipes’’ Chaloner Smith 405 Yale Center for British Art

|File:Rural Life; The Housewife's Employment.jpg

|Engraved by John Faber the Younger after Philippe Mercier – ‘’Rural Life - The Housewife's Employment’’ Chaloner Smith 405 Yale Center for British Art

|File: Faber - Rural Life - The Dairymaid's Occupation.jpg

|Engraved by John Faber the Younger after Philippe Mercier – ‘’Rural Life - The Dairymaid's Occupation’’ Chaloner Smith 407 Yale Center for British Art

|File: Faber - Rural Life - The Swain's Amusement.jpg

|Engraved by John Faber the Younger after Philippe Mercier – ‘’Rural Life - The Swain's Amusement’’ Chaloner Smith 407 Yale Center for British Art

}}

References

{{reflist}}

Further reading

{{refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}

;Primary sources

  • {{cite journal|last=Vertue|first=George|author-link=George Vertue|date=1932|title=The Note-Books of George Vertue Relating to Artists and Collections in England (II)|journal=The Walpole Society|volume=20|at=whole issue|jstor=i40086519}}
  • {{cite journal|last=Vertue|first=George|date=1934|title=The Note-Books of George Vertue Relating to Artists and Collections in England (III)|journal=The Walpole Society|volume=22|at=whole issue|jstor=i40086509}}
  • {{cite journal|last=Vertue|first=George|date=1936|title=The Note-Books of George Vertue Relating to Artists and Collections in England (IV)|journal=The Walpole Society|volume=24|at=whole issue|jstor=i40086511}}
  • {{Cite book|last=Walpole|first=Horace|author-link=Horace Walpole|url=https://archive.org/details/anecdotesofpai1879walp|title=Anecdotes Of Painting In England|publisher=Ward, Lock, and Co.|year=1879|location=London|pages=[https://archive.org/details/anecdotesofpai1879walp/page/234/mode/1up 234], [https://archive.org/details/anecdotesofpai1879walp/page/346/mode/2up 346–347]|via=the Internet Archive|oclc=1039484687}}

;General studies

  • {{cite journal|last=Eidelberg|first=Martin|author-link=Martin Eidelberg|title=Watteau's 'La Boudeuse'|journal=The Burlington Magazine|date=May 1969|volume=111|issue=794|pages=275–278|jstor=875934}}
  • {{cite journal|last=Eidelberg|first=Martin|title=Watteau Paintings in England in the Early Eighteenth Century|journal=The Burlington Magazine|date=September 1975|volume=117|issue=870|pages=576–583|jstor=878129}}
  • {{Cite journal|last=Eidelberg|first=Martin|date=Winter 2006|title=Philippe Mercier as a Draftsman|journal=Master Drawings|volume=44|issue=4|pages=411–449|jstor=20444473}}
  • {{cite web|url=http://watteauandhiscircle.org/Mercier.htm|last=Eidelberg|first=Martin|date=October 24, 2013|title=Philippe Mercier, Watteau's English Follower|work=Watteau and His Circle|access-date=April 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201206205818/http://watteauandhiscircle.org/Mercier.htm|archive-date=December 6, 2020}}
  • {{cite journal|last=Harrison|first=Brett|date=Winter 2019–2020|title=Philip Mercier (1691–1760) and Queen Caroline|journal=The British Art Journal|volume=20|issue=3|pages=34–41|issn=1467-2006|jstor=48617250}}
  • {{cite journal|first1=John|last1=Ingamells|author-link=John Ingamells|name-list-style=amp|first2=Robert|last2=Raines|title=A Catalogue of the Paintings, Drawings and Etchings of Philip Mercier|journal=The Walpole Society|volume=XLVI|date=1976–1978|pages=1–70|jstor=41829356}}
  • {{Cite journal|last=Raines|first=Robert|date=1967|title=Philip Mercier, A Little-known Eighteenth-century Painter|journal=Proceedings of the Huguenot Society of London|volume=21|issue=2 |pages=124–137|doi=10.3828/huguenot.1966.21.02.124 }}
  • {{Cite journal|last=Wescher|first=Paul|date=Autumn 1951|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_art-quarterly_autumn-1951_14_3/page/n9/mode/2up|title=Philippe Mercier and the French Artists in London|journal=Art Quarterly|volume=14|pages=179–194|via=the Internet Archive}}

;Exhibition catalogues

  • {{cite book|first1=Elizabeth|last1=Einberg|name-list-style=amp|first2=Judy|last2=Egerton|title=The Age of Hogarth: British Painters Born 1675–1709|type=exhibition catalogue|publisher=Tate Gallery Collections|volume=II|location=London|date=1988|isbn=094659080X}}
  • {{Cite book|last=Einberg|first=Elizabeth|url=https://archive.org/details/mannersmoralshog0000einb|title=Manners & Morals: Hogarth and British Painting 1700-1760|publisher=Tate Gallery|year=1987|isbn=0-946590-84-2|location=London|at=pp. [https://archive.org/details/mannersmoralshog0000einb/page/14/mode/1up 14], [https://archive.org/details/mannersmoralshog0000einb/page/64/mode/2up 64–65], [https://archive.org/details/mannersmoralshog0000einb/page/91/mode/1up 91]–[https://archive.org/details/mannersmoralshog0000einb/page/92/mode/1up 92], [https://archive.org/details/mannersmoralshog0000einb/page/113/mode/1up 113], [https://archive.org/details/mannersmoralshog0000einb/page/123/mode/1up 123], [https://archive.org/details/mannersmoralshog0000einb/page/245/mode/1up 245]; cat. nos. 40, 69|type=exhibition catalogue|oclc=1150291569|url-access=registration|via=the Internet Archive|lccn=88204213}}
  • {{cite book|first1=John|last1=Ingamells|name-list-style=amp|first2=Robert|last2=Raines|title=Philip Mercier|type=exhibition catalogue|location=York, London|publisher=York City Art Gallery, Kenwood House|date=1969}}

;Additional notes

  • {{Cite book|last=Antal|first=Frederick|url=https://archive.org/details/hogarthhisplacei00anta|title=Hogarth and His Place in European Art|publisher=Basic Books|year=1962|location=New York|oclc=1035595582|author-link=Frederick Antal|url-access=registration|via=the Internet Archive}}
  • {{cite book |url=https://archive.org/stream/englishsocietyof00daviuoft/|title=English society of the eighteenth century in contemporary art|first=Randall |last=Davies |location=London |publisher=Seeley|year=1907 |page=37|via=the Internet Archive}}
  • {{Cite journal|last=Waterhouse|first=Ellis K.|author-link=Ellis Waterhouse|date=1952|title=English Painting and France in the Eighteenth Century|journal=Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes|volume=15|issue=3–4|pages=122–135|doi=10.2307/750471|jstor=750471|s2cid=192246064 }}
  • {{Cite book|last=Waterhouse|first=Ellis K.|url=https://archive.org/details/paintinginbritai0000wate_i7n4/|title=Painting in Britain, 1530 to 1790|publisher=Penguin Books|year=1978|isbn=0-14-056101-3|edition=4th|series=The Pelican History of Art|location=Harmondsworth, England; New York|oclc=1245624144|orig-year=1953|url-access=registration|via=the Internet Archive|lccn=77019107}}

;Reference books

  • {{cite encyclopedia|last=Bataille|first=Marie Louise|editor-last=Vollmer|editor-first=Hans|editor-link=Hans Vollmer|date=1930|title=Mercier, Philippe|encyclopedia=Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart|volume=24|language=de|location=Leipzig|publisher=E. A. Seemann|page=409|oclc=889110716}}
  • {{Cite book|last=Bénézit|first=Emmanuel|title=Benezit Dictionary of Artists|publisher=Gründ|year=2006|isbn=2-7000-3079-6|volume=9|location=Paris|pages=[https://archive.org/details/benezitdictionar09bene/page/788/mode/2up 788–789]|orig-year=first published in French in 1911–1923|via=the Internet Archive}}
  • {{cite encyclopedia|last=Constans|first=Claire|editor-last=Laclotte|editor-first=Michel|date=1979|title=Mercier (Philippe)|url=https://archive.org/details/petitlaroussedel0000unse_v5p5/page/1181/mode/1up|encyclopedia=Petit Larousse de la Peinture|volume=2|location=Paris|publisher=Larousse|page=1181|isbn=2-03-020149-9}}
  • {{cite DNB|wstitle=Mercier, Philip|last=Cust|first=Lionel Henry|author-link=Lionel Cust|volume=37|page=269}}
  • {{cite encyclopedia|last=Hopkinson|first=Martin|date=2016|title=Mercier, Philippe (Philip, irrtümlich Pierre)|editor-last=Beyer|editor-first=Andreas|editor-last2=Savoy|editor-first2=Bénédicte|editor-last3=Tegethoff|editor-first3=Wolf|name-list-style=amp|encyclopedia=Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon|volume=89|location=Berlin, Boston|publisher=De Gruyter|pages=136–137|isbn=978-3-11-023255-4|oclc=933756744}}
  • {{Cite encyclopedia|title=Mercier, Philip|date=1996|encyclopedia=The Dictionary of Art|editor-last=Turner|editor-first=Jane|publisher=Grove's Dictionaries|last=Ingamells|first=John|location=New York|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofart21turn/page/147/mode/1up|volume=21|via=the Internet Archive|pages=147–149|isbn=1-884446-00-0}}
  • {{Cite encyclopedia|last=Ingamells|first=John|title=Mercier, Philip|date=2004|editor-last=Matthew|editor-first=H. C. G.|editor-last2=Harrison|name-list-style=amp|editor-first2=Brian|encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford, New York|pages=856–857|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_0198613873/page/856/mode/2up|volume=37|isbn=0198613873|oclc=1035757202|via=the Internet Archive}}
  • {{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/p1lesgraveursdud03portuoft|title=Les graveurs du dix-huitième siècle|trans-title=Engravers of the Eighteenth Century|last1=Portalis|first1=Roger|last2=Béraldi|first2=Henri|volume=3 (pt. 1)|date=1882|page=[https://archive.org/details/p1lesgraveursdud03portuoft/page/82 82]|language=fr|chapter=Mercier (Pierre)|publisher=D. Morgand et C. Fatout|location=Paris|oclc=1050261298|via=the Internet Archive}}

{{refend}}

External links

{{Commons category|Philippe Mercier}}

  • {{Art UK bio}}
  • [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp07308&role=art Portraits by Philip Mercier] at the National Portrait Gallery, London
  • [http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ArtistWorks?cgroupid=999999961&artistid=377&page=1 Paintings by Philip Mercier] at Tate Britain
  • [http://www.art.com/gallery/id--a32646/philippe-mercier-posters.htm Works by Mercier] from Art.com
  • [http://www.invaluable.com/artist/mercier-philip-e7f8b9756n#bio Works by Mercier] from Invaluable.com
  • [https://www.paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk/archives-and-library/archive-collections/john-ingamells John Ingamells archive]

{{Authority control}}

{{Jean-Antoine Watteau}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mercier, Philippe}}

Category:1689 births

Category:1760 deaths

Category:18th-century English painters

Category:English male painters

Category:English etchers

Category:Huguenots

Category:18th-century English male artists