François-Charles Joullain

François-Charles Joullain (c. 1734 – 1790) was a French art dealer, son of François Joullain. The careers of the father and son as merchants of paintings expanded from their roles as printmakers, editors and printsellers.^[1]

Joullain printseller, was mentioned in Horace Walpole's correspondence with the marquise du Deffand.^[2]

When Charles Joullain married Catherine Louise Leclerc, the daughter of Sébastien Leclerc (1676-1763),^[3] his father transferred to him the portion of his business that dealt with frames.^[4]

Charles Joullain later assumed the name Francois-Charles Joullain^[4] and the practice with his father in which he had long been closely associated.^[5] He was reckoned one of the outstanding experts in the art market of his day.^[6] He was one of the experts called in to catalogue the works of art of Abel-François Poisson, marquis de Marigny,^[7] the brother of Mme de Pompadour and one of the most enlightened patrons of the day.

Francois-Charles Joullain was the author of three works which serve the historian of the art market as a guide to auction house practice in the 18th century: his Répertoire de tableaux, dessins et estampes, ouvrage utile aux amateurs, 1783, his Variation de prix concernant les tableaux, 1786, and above all his Reflexions sur la peinture et la gravure, accompagnées d'une courte dissertation sur le commerce de la curiosité et les ventes en général, Metz, 1786.^[8]

Notes

1. Michel 2007, p. 81f.
2. Walpole 1937, p. 346 and note.
3. For his father, see Sébastien Leclerc (1637–1714).
4. Hellyer 1996.
5. Details are in Michel 2007, p. 79f.
6. Jaffé 1994, pp. 54-59, notes (pp. 54, 56) four eminent experts in 18th-century Paris as Pierre-Jean Mariette, Gabriel Huquier, Edme-François Gersaint and Joullain.
7. Gordon, et al. 2003.
8. on-line text.

Bibliography

• Gordon, Alden R.; Carolyne Ayçaguer-Ron; Maria Leilani Gilbert; Elizabeth A. Spatz; Patricia A. Teter (2003). The Houses and Collections of the Marquis de Marigny.
• Guiffrey, Jules (1915). Les Artistes parisiens du XVIe et du XVIIe siècles: Donations, contrats de mariage, testaments, inventaires....
• Hellyer, M.-E. (1996). "Joullain, François", vol. 17, pp. 667–668, in The Dictionary of Art, edited by Jane Turner, London: Macmillan.
• Jaffé, Michael (1994). "Two Rediscovered Antwerp Drawings from Crozat's Collection", Master Drawings, vol. 32, no. 1 (Spring 1994).
• Michel, Patrick (2007). Le Commerce du tableau à Paris dans la seconde moitié du XVIIIe siècle.
• Walpole, Horace; Lewis, Wilmarth S., editor (1937). Horace Walpole's Correspondence with Madame du Deffand. Yale Edition of Horace Walpole's correspondence, vol. 6.