Portret van de schilder Pierre Narcisse Guérin 1820

Julien-Léopold Boilly made this print of the painter Pierre Narcisse Guérin using etching and possibly engraving in France, sometime in the early 19th century. Guérin was a prominent painter and teacher at the École des Beaux-Arts, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Founded in the 17th century, this powerful institution dictated aesthetic standards and controlled artistic careers. Boilly’s print can be understood as part of that system. The inscription below the image identifies Guérin as a member of the Institut Royal de France and a Chevalier, or knight, in two chivalric orders. These were marks of official recognition, and they helped to publicize the status of the artist. Boilly’s print thus participated in the official art world of France. To understand this system better, historians might look at the membership rosters of the Académie, the records of official commissions, and the reviews of the annual Salons. Art is always contingent on such institutional structures.