Lot n° 8
Estimation :
2000 - 3000
EUR
Result with fees
Result
: 2 432EUR
CONIL (P.A.).
ALBUM. Set of 40 drawings in black pencil or ink, some enhanced with watercolor. S.l., 1858-1864 (for the most part), oblong in-4 (22,5 x 30 cm), black half-chagrin, smooth spine decorated with a gilt motif, gilt title "Album" on the upper board, gilt edges [Rel. of the period], restored.
35 ff.n.ch. (the last 6 on tinted paper) and 3 added handwritten ff.
The drawings, mounted on the album leaves or executed on full page, show portraits of Gauchos, or herdsmen of the South American plains, various characters, allegorical scenes, military men, horsemen hunting, views of a bay and some islets, as well as mining installations in Argentina. Among this set, 5 drawings are signed "P.A. Conil" or "P.A.C", 1 is signed "Emilie Jaudin" and another "Rosenthal"; the others are not signed.
There are about fifteen drawings mainly evoking Argentina: Gaucho sitting, in profile (signed P.A. Conil). - Argentinean Gaucho represented seated, three-quarters. - Wheel of the Ojo de Agua (dated January 16, 1858). - Argentinean Gaucho, depicted in front, wearing a spur to a boot. - Map of Guayco (ink and watercolor). - Argentine Gaucho standing, seen from the front. - Portrait of man, seen in profile (dated March 15, 1858). - Paraguayan Gauchos (signed P.A. Conil; depicts a gaucho and a gaucha). - Portrait of an inhabitant in costume (dated July 27, 1860). - Faena de la Mina Eufemia (black pencil, ink and watercolor highlights). - Mina Eufemia (ink and watercolor, 4 cuts on double page dated 1861 to 1864). - Casa y Despensas de la Mina Eufemia (ink and watercolor). - Cerro de la Yba Buena (sketch of this mountain, with the mention "visited on January 15, 1858 with MM. Lelong, Martin de Moussy, Shaw, Léon Roque"). - Gauchos watching a cockfight (signed P.A. Conil). - View of a bay bordered by mountains. - View of several islets (with 3 small drawings in ink, wash or pencil).
The author was probably employed in one of the mines represented in the album, these being located in the province of Cordoba, in the north of Argentina. One of the handwritten pages states: "The mines of the Company A. Barrau & P. Jaudin are nine in number, eight of which are in the mining district of Guayco and one in that of Ojo de Agua. The Guayco is at a distance of about six leagues from the smelter establishment; it is separated from it by a road that it would be easy, at little cost, to make passable...". This is followed by a list of the mines in question, itself followed by a synoptic table of the exploitable mines from which the lead and silver ores were extracted.
At the end, a drawing depicts a village near a river; executed in pen and black ink, it is dated and signed "04 P.A.C". Another drawing, also in ink, represents a map of the surroundings of Sainte-Foy (Dordogne); it is signed and dated "P.A. Conil 1907". These two drawings seem to be by Pierre-Auguste Conil, who died in 1942, prehistorian and archaeologist, vice-president of the Historical and Archaeological Society of Libourne, author of numerous works on prehistory and Gallo-Roman antiquities.
As for the drawings made around 1860, they were probably made by a relative of Pierre-Auguste Conil established in Argentina and bearing the same initials. One of the drawings shows that he went on an excursion with the famous doctor and geographer Victor Martin de Moussy, who explored Argentina, Chile and Paraguay from 1855 to 1859.
Curious album evoking the mines in Argentina in the middle of the 19th century.
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