About Bucentaure Prints and Maps
Welcome to Bucentaure. The Bucentaure portfolio is the result of over 15 years of collecting original engravings and maps for my personal enjoyment, with no intention to make them public, let alone sell them. Some are framed and displayed in my various residences in three different countries. Many are bound in books so fine and beautiful that I would not even think of detaching them and using them individually. Some are so decrepit and fragile that they cannot really be appreciated without substantial digital restoration.
After so many years of keeping them to myself, I decided it was time to make them available to others capable of appreciating their exquisite and delicate beauty. Some of my prints are indeed very rare and can hardly be seen elsewhere. If they exist, most likely they are hidden in private collections like mine. This was the beginning of Bucentaure.
The Bucentaure concept
I am not an art dealer in the conventional sense. The Bucentaure collection comprises my own personal pieces, reflecting my own tastes, interests and esthetical choices – in other words, only what I would have bought for myself if I did not already have it.
The current Bucentaure collection does not feature my entire personal portfolio of pieces – only those I consider the most remarkable and beautiful. Behind the scenes, I continue to complete my already extensive collection (totalling many hundreds of prints), mainly at auctions in Paris and elsewhere.
In most cases, what I offer for sale is not the original in my possession, which dates back to the 17th or 18th century, but its high-quality duplicate reproduced with cutting-edge modern technologies. In replicating the quality and texture of the original print in this way, I also eliminate signs of aging (particularly exposure to light) and defects, inevitable in such a fragile medium as paper. If you are not a specialist, you will not be able to see the difference. But, unlike the original prints, they are less vulnerable to degradation when exposed to light.
The fact remains that this is still ink on paper, unlike reproductions of oil paintings, i.e. essentially the same methodology and media as were used to make the original print. The only difference is that instead of a tangible copper or wood prototype, an intangible digital prototype is used. Nevertheless, for all practical purposes, the digital is identical to the tangible prototype (see more at Engraving and Photography: continuity or disruption?).
Sustainable model
I think this is the only viable and sustainable option for selling prints that make part of books and albums, which is how most prints were produced in the 17th and 18th centuries. Most individual original prints for sale have been detached from books specifically to sell them. Considering how beautiful and precious those works usually are (see Perronet), this is a vandalism I can never condone nor resort to myself.
The paradox of the original-print market is that while physical quality inevitably deteriorates with time due to the fragility of the medium, market value increases due to increasing rarity and age. At the same time, the fragility and rarity of early prints mean that it has become increasingly difficult for the public even to see them. The only feasible and sustainable way to allow more people to see and enjoy them is with high-quality duplicates. Today, the use of modern digital technologies is simply the modern equivalent of the original reproduction techniques that brought about the invention of prints in the 15th century.
By partnering with trusted, expert printers and framers across the globe, I am able to deliver my collection of maps and prints locally – ensuring that the highest quality is maintained, whilst keeping my business model’s impact on the planet as low as possible.
The Use of Historical Maps and Prints in Interior Design
The beautiful chairs in both the foreground and background are authentic late eighteenth-century (Louis XVI) pieces, restored and reupholstered in a new silk fabric such as was used when they were made.
Could you tell the difference if you saw the originals? Of course you could, because the originals would be inevitably quite worn out and shabby after having born the weight of so many bottoms of different shapes and sizes.
I could see that myself when I acquired the pair in the foreground with the original upholstery. That would not be something we would want to have in our living room and sit on, would it? The point here, as you must have guessed, is that if we want to enjoy the beauty and the original look of very old things, they must be restored with modern materials. The same goes for prints (see more at Discreet Charm of Imitation).
The prints that I offer for sale have a decorative value their makers did not necessarily intend. It was relatively rare to see them on walls (framed or not) in private homes or public spaces, although Madame de Pompadour is known to have done so in her own residences. More appreciation for their decorative value came later, as their original purpose receded with time. Disconnected as we are today from the reality in which they came into existence, we see these prints differently and find new ways of using them. I myself decorate my homes with some of my most beautiful prints, as part of the interior design, as you can see in the Gallery. You may find inspiration there for your own home or simply purchase prints as a stylish gift (see more at GIFTS).
