Habit de Savetier (Stage Costume for a Cobbler)

Etching and engraving with a design for a stage costume for a cobbler, created by Jacques LePautre after Jean I Berain. Entrusted with drawings for costumes, stage sets, and royal ceremonies at the 'Academie Royale de la Musique' since 1680, Berain's ingenious creations took acanthus and laurel leaves, palmettes and grotesques, mixing them with dancers, acrobats, monkeys and satyrs, to create his own, imaginative, theatrical world. His designs were multiplied and disseminated by means of engravings, his design motifs and manner objects becoming highly influential in the closing years of the seventeenth century. This print was, like many of his designs, possibly designed for costumes intended for the performances of the Royal Academy of Music.

The plate presents a man seen full-length, holding knife and leather strap, his costume composed of a wide, ragged tunic covered with shoes of different kinds: slippers, brodequins, and high-heeled shoes. Wide, ragged breeches worn over tighter knee breeches, hose, and low-heeled, square-toed boots with tassels, and a wide-brimmed hat made up of swatches of leather, complete the outfit. He holds a knife on his left hand, and a strap on the right, and stands in front of a gulf or lake with a city view, seen behind him to the right.