SwissArtGallery · Documented identity
Painter, engraver and print dealer, Claude Bornet (1733–1804) is also described as a miniature portraitist. Born in Paris, where he died in 1804, he worked in several complementary areas of image-making. The works cited show the range of his subjects: a portrait of Denis Diderot dated 1763, followed in 1767 by one of an elderly woman in a mauve silk dress. Public collections preserve portraits and drawings that extend this aspect of his activity. The Musée Lambinet in Versailles holds a miniature of Mme Desprez mounted on a box; the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Caen owns a miniature drawing of a woman shown from the waist up, dressed in blue, while the Musée Magnin in Dijon holds a drawing of a young abbot. Among the works attributed to him, the Louvre’s Department of Prints and Drawings includes miniatures of Jacques Gosseaume and the Princess of Lamballe.
Portraiture is also represented in the references associated with his work in the form of prints: a portrait of Chevalier Thomas Mauduit is recorded at the Musée d’Aquitaine in Bordeaux; a portrait of Joseph Paul Augustin Cambefort, held in the same museum, was engraved by Charles-Étienne Gaucher. Bornet also contributed to an important illustrated work: with Clément-Pierre Marillier, he drew 41 plates for the nine volumes of Antoine Court de Gébelin’s Monde primitif analysé et comparé avec le monde moderne, published in Paris by Durand between 1775 and 1787. This work places his activity in the production of illustrated books, alongside his practice of portraiture and printmaking.
This profile brings together identity references for Claude Bornet and paintings, drawings and works on paper documented in auction catalogues.
Zofingen
References include catalogue entries and available results; they do not all represent completed sales. Attributed works and special lots are excluded from the priced results.
Gouache
Portrait eines Herrn in blauem Seidenrock mit weissem Spitzenjabot
gouache
Catalogue period : 2025-06-06
Published result : 460 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 500
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Gouache
Portrait Sir Thomas Cave (1766 - 1792)
gouache
Catalogue period : 2024-05-31
Published result : 700 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 500
View the lot at the auction house ↗SwissArtGallery documentary note based on the cited sources. Titles, media and qualifications are provided in the profile language; the original catalogue wording remains available in each record.
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