The complete set of seven French sepia scenic wallpaper panels by Dufour, Paris, after engravings from Comte Choiseul-Gouffier, Voyage pittoresque de la Grèce, Vol. I, Paris, 1782 Empire, circa 1815

all of rectangular form, mounted on canvas, one mounted on cardboard depicting various Parts and Scenes:
Part I. "View of an aqueduct near Ephesus', plate 118.
Part II."Travellers resting place near Durlach in Caria", plate 74
the text specifies,` The drawing for plate 74 was produced on the spot, it is a faithful reproduction of the life we led for nearly a year' 
Part III:"Caravan", plate 104
Part IV."Ruins of the Temple of Mars' near to Mylassa, plate 99;
"View of the port of Rhodes", plate 61
Part V. Not identified
Part VI. " Tombe near Mylasa", plate 103
"Ruins of a Temple at Euromus", plate 105
Part VII."Turkish Festival', plate 77

Private House in Lyon, until 1989, where it was removed from the walls by specialists from the Louvre, then exhibited in 1990 (see ante)
Purchased by the present owner from Drouot, Paris, 17th November 1990, lot 41

Musée des Arts Decoratifs, Paris, 18th SEptember 1990-20th January 1991, `Décors de l'imaginaire-Papiers Peints Panoramiques 1790-1865", cat. No.70 "Scènes Turques".

Odile Nouvel-Kammerer, French Scenic Wallpaper, Musée des Arts Decoratifs, Paris 1990 cat. 70, p. 304-305, p. 140, 142, 143, illustrated.
Josef Leiss, Bildtapeten, Hamburg, 1961, p. 69, plates 19,21 illustrated.
Heinrich Olligs,ed., Tapeten, vol. II Braunschweig, 1970, p. 258-259, illustrated.
Staatliche Schlösser, Burgen und Gärten Sachsen (ed.)Dresden, Michael Sandstein Verlag 2005, p. 135-137, illustrated

The panels have been lightly cleaned. All the panels are laid on canvas and supported on a wooden frame.The first narrow panel has been extended in the sky section, but this has been well executed and is hardly noticeable.Three panels relined, the others are on the original canvas. Some very minor restorations to borders as visible from the catalogue photograph. Part IV is loosely fastened on board so that it can be easily taken off. A rare complete set in sepia with wonderful detail. In overall good conserved condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Comte de Choiseul-Gouffier (1752-1817) and the `Voyage Pittoresque de la Grèce':

This exquisite and rare panoramic wallpaper is the only recorded edition in sepia and the only known complete panoramic sequence on the subject. The panels illustrate the voyage which the comte de Choiseul-Gouffier made into the Aegean Sea and along the Turkish coast from Izmir (Smyma) to Rhodes in 1776. In 1782, upon his return to Paris, the comte de Choiseul-Gouffier (1752-1817), published, `Voyage Pittoresque de la Grèce'. The engravings contained therein, are based upon drawings by  the talented artist J.B. Hilair which the made in situ when he accompanied Choiseul-Gouffier on his travels. The engravings give exact but inverted topographical views of landscapes and of antique ruins, and present a perfect combination of geographical interest with the harking back to Antiquity and satisfying the `armchair travelers' appetite for both `exoticism and realism'. There is clear a reference of each scene to a `planche' in the comte Choiseul-Gouffier's book.

The panels combine landscapes with ruins, rocky outcrops and stretches of water peopled with groups of figures and monuments easily identifiable from the engravings of Hilair.The panel, `Travellers Halting near Durlach in Caria' is so completely faithful to the original that one can identify the silhouettes of the author Choiseul-Goffier and the artist Hilair. It is worthwhile noting a charming variation in wallpaper panel VII, `Turkish Festival', from the engraving, in that instead of the audience watching the dancers as depicted in the engraving, some of the audience are looking at the small dog in the centre of the wallpaper panel. 

It is interesting to conjecture whether or not Hilair was involved in the production of the scenic wallpaper as his illustrations for Gouffier's Volume I, inspired at least five scenes which are reversed on the wallpaper and his Oriental figures were `liberally borrowed'' almost unchanged for others. 

Comte Choiseul (Marie-Gabriel-Auguste-Florent, 1752-1817):
He was born in Paris in 1752 and in his early years became interested in the arts and in Antiquity. At the age of nineteen he married and his wife was "I'héritière de la maison de Gouffier". He added her name to his name and was now a man of substance and the possibility of realising his dreams of travelling to Ancient Greece became a reality. In his plans he was guided by the famous Abbé J.B. Barthélemy who at this time was writing his book on the same subject which he called "Voyage du jeune Anarchasis en Grèce". The comte gathered together artists and engineers to accompany him on his voyage. At the tender age of twenty-four, he embarked on his journey on board the  "Atalanta". The ship was under command of marquis de Chabert, «capitaine des vaisseaux du roi », who was in charge of collecting data for a new map of the Mediterranean. Comte Choiseul-Gouffier managed to make an agreement with the marquis to take him and his party to various places of Ancient Greece. It was the land of Homer and Herod that the young Count was longing for. He wanted to see what remained of these ancient cities, temples and the Greek population. For almost one year the" Atalanta'  served comte Choiseul-Gouffier for his explorations.
Once back in Paris, in 1782, the first volume of his "Voyage pittoresque de la Grèce" was published. It was a  monumental and luxurious book, large folio, 204 pages with 126 very fine and mostly large engravings. The frontispiece shows an engraving of an allegorical figure, a young woman as Ancient Greece in chains among tombstones of Greek heroes. Behind her a ruined wall bears the inscription "Exoriare aliquis", a call for Greek freedom, a very early call, more than forty years before Lord Byron's landing at Missolonghi. A few hundred copies of the book were printed and they aroused great interest.

The author was elected a member of the "Academie Francaise". In 1784, he was appointed the King's ambassador to Constantinople. Comte Choiseul-Gouffier stayed in office until 1792. It was not until 1802, that he could return to Paris, but he found that his wealth had been dissipated and part of his collection from his first voyage was dispersed. Nevertheless he set out to publish a second volume of his "Voyage pittoresque' in 1809. In 1815, comte Choiseul- Gouffier was made "ministre de I'etat" and "Pair de France" and it was at the same time that his earlier work (Vol. I) met with new interest and that the wallpaper manufacturer Dufour in Paris set out to print a wallpaper panorama after some of the charming and decorative engravings of Volume I.This must have taken considerable time and money because about one thousand woodcuts had to be made to transform and enlarge the engravings to be printed on wallpaper. It was offered both, `en grisaille' and `en sepia'.

Panoramic Wallpapers:
The popularity of wall decoration in the form of scenic wallpaper in bourgeois salons and dining rooms, according to Yvonne Brunhammer, (see Le monde du papier peint, Paris, 1981), corresponds to a profound need in the individual, "the interior is not just the universe but also the étui of the private individual".
Furthermore, according to the German writer Walter Benjamin, (1892-1940), in his seminal essay on Paris in the 19th century,`..The private individual, who in his office has to deal with reality, needs the domestic interior to sustain him in his illusions..The interior brings together the far away and the long ago. His living room is a box in the theatre of the world'. He also wrote that for 19th century collectors, scenic wallpapers enabled them `to dream (their) way not only into a distant or bygone world but also into a better one'.

The 19th century bourgeoisie were fascinated by scenic wallpaper which depicted panoramic wallpapers over a whole series of lengths.`From a modest boarding house (described by Balzac) to the Goncourt's dining room', these papier peints could be found. They were mainly hung in salons or dining rooms and less commonly in bedrooms. The walls became a place of escape and the art of papier peint emerged in the late 18th century and its origins are shrouded in mystery. Sébastien Le Normand wrote the first article on wallpaper in 1822 and concluded that `the true reason that it has been omitted from general descriptions of the arts is due to secrecy that the artists have consistently maintained concerning their methods and to the dfifficulty in entering their workshops encountered by anyone who might have described them'.
From the early days of scenic wallpaper, the panoramic view was intended to come full circle. In most cases the last length could be connected to the first, the idea that the circumference of the room would correspond to the total breadth of the landscape, although buyers were entitled to purchase part of a group. The start or end of a composition was not obvious except for the narrative episodes in the case of figured landscapes.  

A detailed catalogue raisonnée by the owner Hans Galen, formerly director of the Greven Museum, Germany, is available from the department upon request.