Jean-Gabriel Charvet - Sauvages de La Mer Pacifique

Sauvages De La Mer Pacifique

Captain Cook first sailed from England to the South Seas in 1769. He made three expeditions before his death in 1779, and his adventures captured the imaginations of many Europeans at a time when there was considerable interest in the “primitive” and “exotic”. His discoveries lent support to the prevailing notion of the inherent moral superiority of “the noble savage”, an idea expressed in the writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778).

In 1784, accounts of Cook's voyages were set forth in an official three-volume publication. Accompanying this was a separate folio atlas containing 61 engravings of landscapes, portraits, and indigenous artifacts.

In 1806 the French entrepreneur and wallpaper manufacturer Joseph Dufour et Cie, in collaboration with a designer Jean-Gabriel Charvet, produced a twenty-panel set of scenic wallpaper entitled Sauvages de la Mer du Pacifique (Savages of the Pacific). The wallpaper was printed in color from multiple woodblocks. It was the largest panoramic wallpaper of its time, and marked the burgeoning of a French industry in panoramic wallpapers. Dufour realized almost immediate success from the sale of these papers and enjoyed a lively trade with America. The Neoclassic spirit currently in favor was accented handsomely in houses of the Federal period by the exaggerated elegance of Charvet's scenes.

Machine-made continuous paper, just invented, was not yet commercially available when Dufour undertook his project. Instead, small rectangular handmade sheets were joined at the edges to form long rolls, which were later cut to the desired length (approximately 24 by 98 inches or 61 × 249 cm). A toned, water-based ground layer was then applied by brush to the entire panel to act as an undercoat for subsequent printing. This light blue layer also served as the sky tone in unprinted areas. Designs for each color were carved on separate blocks, and as many as sixty were required to print a single panel. The design was then enhanced with stenciled hand-painted gouache.

The panels show many historical events loosely based on the reports of James Cook and La Pérouse and drawings made by members of their crews. Some of the figures of Pacific Islanders were based upon frescoes from ancient Pompei, which had been rediscovered in 1748, and others upon well-known Greek and Roman sculptures.