Colonial America
Engraved Portrait of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, After Allan Ramsay Painting, Engraved by J. E. Nocher
1769-Dated, Engraved Portrait of Philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), Engraved by J.E. Nocher, Paris, France, Framed, Choice Extremely Fine.
Original Engraved Portrait of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, measuring 11.75" x 16" (by sight), matted and framed to 19.75" x 24", not examined out of its frame. This historic half-length Portrait of Rousseau shows him facing left and looking forwards, captioned: "JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU, / Ne a Geneve en 1708." above poem in French. Engraving is After the original historic painting by "A. Ramsay, Londini Pina, 1766" (Rousseau wearing an Armenian costume) and is engraved here by "J.E. Nocher, Sculp. 1769, No.6", and under image reads: "Paris chez Delalain, Libraire, rue St. Jacques, Avec Privilege du Roi." This Engraved Portrait is regarded as the single finest and most important work by J.E. Nocher, who flourished at Paris about 1760. He studied under Stephen Fressard, and engraved several book ornaments and portraits, among which is this important example of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. A rare print, framed and ready for display.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, French: (June 28, 1712 - July 2nd, 1778) was a Philosopher, Writer, and Composer of the 18th century. His political philosophy influenced the Enlightenment in France and across Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolution, and the overall development of modern political and educational thought.
Rousseau's novel "Emile," or On Education is a treatise on the education of the whole person for citizenship. His sentimental novel "Julie," or the New Heloise was of importance to the development of pre-romanticism and romanticism in fiction.
Rousseau's autobiographical writings-his Confessions, which initiated the modern autobiography, and his Reveries of a Solitary Walker-exemplified the late 18th-century movement known as the Age of Sensibility, and featured an increased focus on subjectivity and introspection that later characterized modern writing. His Discourse on Inequality and The Social Contract are cornerstones in modern political and social thought.
"The first man who, having fenced in a piece of land, said 'This is mine', and found people nave enough to believe him, that man was the true founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars, and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not any one have saved mankind, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to his fellows: Beware of listening to this impostor; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody." - Rousseau 1754
In common with other philosophers of the day, Rousseau looked to a hypothetical State of Nature as a normative guide.
During the period of the French Revolution, Rousseau was the most popular of the philosophes among members of the Jacobin Club. He was interred as a national hero in the Panthon in Paris, in 1794, 16 years after his death.