Tant de belles orfevreries
Tant d’éclatantes pierreries
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Tant de vases si précieux,
Tant de bustes et tant d’images, etc.
Le Maisel Prieur des Roches is crazy for books, and like a true bibliomaniac he never reads his books, which are generally bought for the title, etc. This of course is more than enough for his introduction into one of these rhyming chronicles, called Rymaille:—
Les livres Des Roches en belle couverture,
Mais leur Maistre n’en donne Science ny Lecture.
Paintings being given the preference, they are also the cherished subject for verse. Impassioned specialists who collect the works of a single artist and spend a lifetime in doing it are a capital subject. There is also an Arcadia among art collectors, worthy of the eighteenth century, a regular Arcadia with pseudo-names, etc. One of these rhymed chronicles records the various names assumed by the collectors and amateurs of the Arcadia. As we have said, many of these collectors of paintings are specialists possessed of the hobby of collecting the works of a single master. Poussin is at one time the most fashionable, and while the Poussinists are among the most impassioned in proclaiming the merits of their artist, there are also other “ists.” Gamarre, Sieur de Creze, lieutenant des chasses, is apparently at the head of the Poussinists. His Arcadian name is Pantolme.
The widow of Lescot—the jeweller who was one of Mazarin’s advisers and was sent by the Cardinal to Spain in search of fine things—collects paintings, but happens to be a Rubenist. However, in due time she is converted by Pantolme (Gamarre) to the Poussinist persuasion and deserts the Flemish art of Rubens and starts a new collection as a Poussinist. She is called Irene in the Banquet des Curieux.
It would take long to go over all the pleasantries of the curio-hunters of this time. Bizot, named Lubin in the Banquet des Curieux, is a type of collector we have already introduced:—
Lubin, amateur d’antiquailles,
De livres anciens et de vielles médailles,
Philosophe sans jugement,
Curieux sans raisonnement,...
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