The Fortune of Francois Isnard: A treasury of innovation --
Posted: 06 Mar 2018, 17:04
Fortune on the four of coins, an emblem that appears on the decks of the engraver Francois Isnard [or of those of some who copied from him] -- an engraver who appears connected with both our earliest appearnce of the TdB and of french suited animal tarots --
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Francois Isnard, 1695 - 1765, moved from Provence to Strasbourg in 1715 and married there in 1716 - he was father-in-law of the cardmaker Francoise Bouchard, for whom he engraved molds for playing cards, including a french suited animal tarot mold, and in whose house he died in 1765 --
The master cardmaker David Benoist of Strasboug and his wife were Godfather and Godmother for two of his children, born in 1723 and 1725-
From 1728 his initials begin to appear on several prints- according to BnF all active cardmakers of strasbourg used his molds between 1730 - 1760 (and continued to be used by some for much longer, as per the Benoist, Carey and Sarraman examples we have) -- here is the chariot from a Francois Isnard deck, with his initials of the shield:
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On this deck from what appears to be a 'generic mold' there is no makers name on the two of coins, nor on the two of cups - the engravers initials however appear on various cards:
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Strasbourg based cardmakers who used this style of FI's molds would stamp their name on the two of coins, for example here is a reproduction of a Benois deck by il Meneghello, and L Carey [c1795] from a copy at the British Museum:
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you can see the initials of FI on the petals between the 'dolphin' heads:
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The stamped nature of the cardmakers/merchants name is clear on this BnF copy of a J Benoist /FI deck, with the ink of the name being clearly different to the background printed ink:
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This copy of a J B Benois at the British Museum has the name stamp upside down:
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Francois Isnard, 1695 - 1765, moved from Provence to Strasbourg in 1715 and married there in 1716 - he was father-in-law of the cardmaker Francoise Bouchard, for whom he engraved molds for playing cards, including a french suited animal tarot mold, and in whose house he died in 1765 --
The master cardmaker David Benoist of Strasboug and his wife were Godfather and Godmother for two of his children, born in 1723 and 1725-
From 1728 his initials begin to appear on several prints- according to BnF all active cardmakers of strasbourg used his molds between 1730 - 1760 (and continued to be used by some for much longer, as per the Benoist, Carey and Sarraman examples we have) -- here is the chariot from a Francois Isnard deck, with his initials of the shield:
_________________________________________________________________________
On this deck from what appears to be a 'generic mold' there is no makers name on the two of coins, nor on the two of cups - the engravers initials however appear on various cards:
_________________________________________________________________________
Strasbourg based cardmakers who used this style of FI's molds would stamp their name on the two of coins, for example here is a reproduction of a Benois deck by il Meneghello, and L Carey [c1795] from a copy at the British Museum:
________________________________________________________________________
you can see the initials of FI on the petals between the 'dolphin' heads:
________________________________________________________________________
The stamped nature of the cardmakers/merchants name is clear on this BnF copy of a J Benoist /FI deck, with the ink of the name being clearly different to the background printed ink:
_________________________________________________________________________
This copy of a J B Benois at the British Museum has the name stamp upside down:
_________________________________________________________________________