A wonderful antique engraving depicting some of the incredible hairstyles from the 1770s. Published by Esnaults and Rapilly in Paris.
It was one of several engravings to be featured in "Galleries des Modes" and is quite rare. No private or public collection possesses a complete edition of the "Galerie".
The Galerie implicated the work of numerous prominent visual artists. In fact, the full title of the series, which was displayed in the epigraph of the collected 1779 volume, vaunts that its illustrations were drawn by "the most celebrated artists ("les plus célebres artistes") of the period, all of which had achieved the highest level of mastery in their medium.
Esnault and Rapilly were a prominent Parisian print publishing partnership formed by Jacques Esnauts and Michel Rapilly. Operating from their shop, A La Ville de Coutances on rue Saint-Jacques, they are most famous for publishing the "Gallerie des Modes et Costumes Français".
Their landmark publication, the "Galerie des Modes", is celebrated as one of the finest and most comprehensive visual records of 18th-century French fashion and society during the reign of Marie Antoinette.
