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Overview
Jean-Jacques de Boissieu (1736-1810) was a French draughtsman, etcher and engraver. Born in Lyon, he studied at the École Gratuite de Dessin in his home town, but was mostly self-taught. He began making prints in the period 1758–64, then went to Italy in the retinue of the ambassador Louis Alexandre, Duc de la Rochefoucauld d'Enville; he met Voltaire on his way, and returned with a collection of landscape drawings. Boissieu made several plates for the Diderot-d'Alembert Encyclopédie. He continued to produce prints in Lyon, which earned him a reputation as the last representative of the older etching tradition. Boissieu made many etchings of the Roman and Dutch countryside - the former evident in this print - as well as the countryside around Lyon.
This etching is a depiction of a favourite 'Grand Tourist' site - and sight - still immensely, indeed over- popular today, the Temple of the Tibertine Sibyl at Tivoli, in the countryside in the environs of Rome. The antiquity of the ruined temple is complemented by the sublimity of the waterfall and spectacular rocks. The reality is gentler, but what mattered was Boissieu's imaginative vision which borders onto the 'Capriccio' - made-up architectural and landscape creations.
Near the foreground, we can spot a seated figure in a broad-brimmed cat, holding a sketch-pad. Could this be Boissieu himself, who is documented as having visited the temple and waterfall, back in 1765? 'Tivoli revisited' would make a suitable alternative title to this print; he certainly vividly did so in his mind.
See: British Museum Collection online, 'Jean-Jacques de Boissieu' (biographical details), https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/term_details.aspx?bioId=131842