Charles Bouillon (active Paris 1705-07)

Originally from Flanders, Charles Bouillon probably emigrated to Paris at the beginning of the 18th century. Only three other works can be attributed to him with certainty; the first is a trompe l'oeil signed and dated 'Bouillon/Flammant, 1704', in a private collection, Paris; the second is a still life with silver objects, signed and dated 1707, in the Musée des Arts Decoratifs, in Paris; and the third is a trompe l'oeil of engravings, drawings and letters included in a sale at the Château de Groussay between 2 and 6 June 1999, lot 184.

Among the rare objects, prints and books in Bouillon's collector's cabinet are two roundels, one of which (at left) probably depicts Seneca, the Roman stoic philosopher, and a seemingly fictitious map in the manner of late 17th and early 18th century charts of the Low Countries. Also featured are volumes of Plutarch's Lives, a series of biographies of famous Greeks and Romans; and his Moralia, an eclectic selection of essays and transcribed speeches on subjects as wide-ranging as fraternal affection and divine vengeance.