Jardin Public, Champs Elysées

Gabriel Thouin

n.d. · Pen and black ink, brush and gray wash, and watercolor over graphite underdrawing · Drawings and Prints

Gabriel Thouin was the son of Jean-André Thouin, who had been a gardener in the service of the king of France. Following in his father’s footsteps, Gabriel became a gardener as well. Throughout his career, he documented the most famous private and public gardens in France, which he eventually published in the two-volume study Plans raisonnés de toutes les espèces de jardins. Although his preparatory drawings are beautifully colored, he opted for simple black-and-white illustrations to keep the book’s production cost low, thus making it available to a wider audience. In a later edition, Thouin’s striking palette was introduced through the new medium of color lithography.

Artist

Gabriel Thouin

Date

n.d.

Medium

Pen and black ink, brush and gray wash, and watercolor over graphite underdrawing

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 2007