INK PORTRAIT OF ROUSSEAU SENT FOLLOWING HIS DEATH BY HIS LAST PUPIL TO THE FATHER OF THOMAS MALTHUS

Pen and ink portrait of Jean Jacques Rousseau in the garden at Ermenonville, titled beneath "venant d'herboriser dans les Jardins d'Ermenonville au mois de Juin 1778", along with a printed version of the image signed Mayer (Georg Friedrich Meyer), engraved by J. M. Moreau in 1779. Each 15 x 10cm. Accompanied by an ink manuscript letter (10.5 x 8cm) headed "Nuneham July 21", presenting the images: "Lord Harcourt sends his compts. to Mr. Malthus, and at the request of Mr. le Mqs. de Girardin encloses this portrait of J: J: Rousseau". Contained within the original postal cover addressed to Mr. Daniel Malthus, redirected from his London address to Cookham, signed at the foot by Harcourt under the parliamentary privilege franking system with additional "free" handstamps to the front panel, and further postal markings to the reverse (the specific types of postal markings on the cover indicate a date range of 1779-1788). The ink portrait, engraved portrait and postal cover all have historical burn marks and associated loss, as well as toning and light foxing; the letter remains in good order. A fascinating and intimate gift linking several late eighteenth-century intellectuals, all connected to the French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau, in the form of two portraits of the philosopher (one ink, one engraved), sent from Rousseau's last pupil, René de Girardin, Marquis of Vauvray (1735-1808), via the radically-inclined politician and gardener George Harcourt, 2nd Earl Harcourt (1736-1809), to the father of the famous economist Thomas Malthus, Daniel Malthus (1730-1800), himself a friend of Rousseau. The present portrait depicts Rousseau in the final weeks of his life 'botanizing' in the garden at Ermenonville, the first French landscape garden, created by his pupil René de Girardin (who here sends the portrait). Ermenonville was itself inspired by Rousseau's ideas, created by Girardin as an illustration of his philosophical and social beliefs regarding the place of man in nature. Within the garden, Girardin began construction of a house for Rousseau, modelled after the "Élysée" of Julie in Rousseau's novel La Nouvelle Héloïse. Rousseau himself visited the garden in May 1778, staying in a small thatched cottage, where he remained until his death in July that year. Girardin subsequently made a tomb for Rousseau at Ermenonville, which became a destination of pilgrimage for his admirers, until his body was re-interred at the Pantheon in Paris in October 1794. Following Rousseau's death, Girardin and two other of his friends of prepared a complete edition of his works, using the manuscripts of some of his most important writings, including Les Confessions and Les Rêveries du promeneur solitaire, which he had left behind at Ermenonville. This new edition was published in Geneva between 1780 and 1782, and contributed greatly to the spread of Rousseau's ideas throughout France, and beyond, in the years leading up to the French Revolution. The original drawing of Rousseau at Ermenonville was executed by the German artist Georg Friedrich Meyer (1733-1779), who also resided with Girardin at Eremenonville during his final years, and where he became well acquainted with Rousseau. Other similar versions of this drawing by Meyer exist (one being in the collection of the Fine Art Museum of San Francisco), and it is unclear as to whether the present pen and ink drawing is an original work by Meyer, or a contemporary copy of the engraving - either way, its origin, from the hands of Girardin himself, provide it with sufficient interest. The present two portraits subsequently made their way to the politician George Harcourt, 2nd Earl Harcourt (previously Viscount Nuneham), a supporter of John Wilkes, friend of Catherine Macaulay, opponent of the war against the American colonies, and pioneering garden designer. Here, he apparently acted as an intermediary in this distinguished friendship circle, sending the pictures on to Daniel Malthus - enlightened ge.…