Publisher's Synopsis
Trained in the Age of Enlightenment, Lequeu (1757-1826), son of a modest carpenter from Rouen, briefly enjoyed the final years of Anglo-Chinese parks and aristocratic celebrations, before they were swept away by the Revolution. Reduced to a junior office clerk, he uncompromisingly pursued his ambition as an artist. His imagination is full of bookish references, such as The Dream of Poliphilus. He dreams of sumptuous monuments, fictitious factories, and imagined landscapes of invention. Beyond architecture, his gallery is enriched by a disturbing series of selfportraits, grimacing figures, erotic paintings and raw anatomical details. Six months before his disappearance into destitution and oblivion, he bequeathed his unique and fascinating graphic work to the Bibliothèque Royale in Paris. This exceptional ensemble gives us a unique insight, both vivid and deviant, into an extraordinary time, and allows us to follow Lequeu on his obsessive and solitary course. Text in French.
