BAILLIAGE D’AIRE 1879 Jean Eugène Sadoux Flemish Renaissance ETCHING

Original 6 inch x 5 1/4 inch 1879 Etching titled BAILLIAGE D’AIRE.

Aire-sur-la-Lys is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France 10 miles southeast of Saint-Omer. La Baillage is a Flemish Renaissance style building which was built between 1595 and 1600, as guardrooms for the militia of the city. It is commonly known as the Le Bailliage (Bailiwick), because at various times between 1634 and 1789, it served as the seat of the court bailiffs. In 1595, the mayor, one Jacques de Caverel had obtained permission from Brussels to raise taxes on beer and wine for the construction of the guardhouse on the city marketplace and the monument was inaugurated on 22 November 1600. The building itself is an irregular quadrilateral of 125m square, with 3 facades giving out onto the Grande Place, Rue d’Arras and what was then the Rue des Cuisiniers. The architect, Pierre Framery was inspired by the former Hotel de Ville at Amsterdam. Many restorations have been necessary over the centuries. The Bailliage has undergone various uses: guardhouse, courthouse, Town Hall and police headquarters in the 19th and 20th centuries. Since 1970, it has been the Tourist Office. The large room upstairs is used for exhibitions. The Bailiwick has been classified as an historic monument since 1886.

Drawn and etched by Jean Eugène Sadoux (1841 - 1906). Sadoux studied engraving, lithography and drawing in Paris and drew for the magazines “Le Magasin Pittoresque”, “Le Monde illustré" and "l'Illustration". He was also a painter in watercolours, in particular, in 1871 he painted the Templar frescoes of the Commandery of Cressac-Saint-Genis.

Engraving from a disbound copy of ‘La Renaissance en France’ by Leon Palustre. Published by A Quantin, Imprimeur-Editeur, 7, Rue Saint-Benoit, Paris, 1879.

Page size 17 3/8 inch x 12 1/2 inch

The etching is in very good condition. Printed text on the reverse.