HUGIJENOT ARTISTS DESIGNERS AND CRAYPSNEN IN GREAT ...

76.
d'Hercules' suggests that the etching probably dates from the early
1690's, before Chron caine to England, when Chron was also known to
have illustrated his sister's transcription of the psalms, 'Psaumes
Nouvellement Mis en Vers' with twenty-two etchings; this volume was
published in Paris in 1693. Another charming engraving by B.Baron,
is based on a lost painting by Chron of 'Le Bain de Diane' (Plate 62),
the engraving bears an inscription in French only, but was probably
engraved in England after 1722, when Baron settled over here. but
it would have been intended primarily for the French market.
The framework of the Academy, as Vertue suggested, provided an
ideal environment for the business of book illustration, a less
demanding source of income for history painters, and it enabled the
designers to instruct their own engravers 1+7 Many of the history painters
who attended the academy, were involved in book illustration, and it
is no small irony, that even after the academy had split, Thornhill and
Chron are to be found illustrating the same volumes. Illustrating 'classic'
authors must have prov:ked discussion and interpretation of the text.
Vertue emphasises on several occasions the importance of a good education
for an artist, and points out that Laquerre's training in a Jesuit
College was most useful for his profession as a history painter.1+8 In
his proposals for an academy Vertue reccomends that 'no scholar should
be received in this school till he has learnt to write & understands
the latin tongue haveing made some progress in the Classical authors'.
It is worth noting in this context that Chron designed a frontispiece
for 'The History of the Life and Reign of Queen Anne', 1722, which was
written by his fellow Huguenot, Abel Boyer. It was sold by the Huguenot
bookseller, Abel Rocayrol, whose shop was in St.Martin's Lane. The
frontispiece shows Queen Anne, flanked by Wisdom and Fortitude, the
lion of Britain to her right, busy snarling at the monstrous Hydra of
Lerna, which Hercules is demolishing with his club.
Hercules was an appropriate allegorical figure, and was a
recurring subject in Chron's work. Vertue mentions '7 plates ye50
labours of Hercules, history as fine & great a maimer as can
,
that Chon produced, as illustrations in their own right, as there is
no evidence that they relate to a particular scheme or text. Six of these
prints are now to be seen in the British Museur'; another in this series
k9