Smoking Tobacco with Pipes. Tobacco flower antique print.

by Grandville, Jean-Jacques

Tabaco (Spanish for Tobacco) Plant and Smoking Pipes.

Colour-printed engraving by Geoffroy after a drawing by French illustrator-caricaturist Jean-Ignace-Isidore Gérard (1803-1847) for Les Fleurs Animées (Animated Flowers). First published in Paris c1847, this edition published in Spain c1902.

From an early age Jean-Jacques was tutored in drawing by his father, miniature-artist Jean-Baptiste Gérard. Jean-Jacques adopted the name 'Grandville' from his father’s actor parents who were known as 'Gérard de Grandville'. Flowers were given human characters, that ranged from charming to gruesome, depending on Grandville's state of mind. Grandville acquired fame by adding animal and bird heads to people's bodies, and as here, by portraying flowers as ladies with personalities. His 'animations' were so popular, that they were reissued a number of times in the United States, Belgium, Germany and Spain.

This wonderful little engraving is 175 x 120mm (6.7/8 x 4.3/4 inches). Image including title measures approximately 130 x 90mm (approximately 5 x 3.1/2 inches). It is currently mounted between antique-white boards, and covered with cellophane for protection until framed.The external mount for frame window measurement is 290 x 240mm (11 3/8 x 9.5 inches)