Album containing 112 well-executed pen and ink drawings by the French nineteenth-century artist H. Du Chene de Vere [H. Duchene de Vere].

4to album of 33 leaves, with the 112 illustrations each on a separate piece of paper, and all laid down on 59 of the album's 66 leaves (the blank leaves of the album bearing traces of other illustrations having been removed). The illustrations range in size from 19 x 15.5 cm to 6 x 3 cm, with the average around 15 x 11 cm. The album's brown cloth covers are faded and worn, but internally the album is sound, with the illustrations themselves in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Around twenty are signed, half with the spelling 'Duchene' and the other half 'Du Chene'. One illustration is signed 'H. Duchene de Vere'. Nine are signed 'H. Du Chene d'après Gavarni' and one 'H. Duchene d'après Charlet'. Three of the Gavarni copies are duplicated, and placed on facing pages, being remarkably similar to one another. The illustrations are impressively-executed, and characteristic of their period and place, mainly comprising well-observed and detailed studies of men and women of all social classes: soldiers, labourers, bourgeois gentlemen, farm workers, ballerinas, washer-women. A satirical element is always present, but only rarely do the illustrations cross the line into full-blown satire. There is a strong sense of the macabre throughout. One page consists of a study of heads, with the names 'Cantucci' and 'Cantelli' written several times. One illustration is captioned in English, 'The Drawing Room | The Wedding Ring First Gift of Love', and its companion, 'The Garret | The weddign ring - The last resource [last word replacing 'sacrifice'] | H Duchene'. Two thirds of the way through the album the illustrations become less satirical, with studies of women and children predominant. These are followed by a number of small studies of heads, some in a style reminiscent of Benjamin Robert Haydon. One is captioned 'ORSINI-MARTIRE', and two on the same leaf 'Deveria' and 'Theophile Gauthier' [sic]. Only one item is coloured: a small study of a peasant; and also present are two studies of heads on brown paper, in pencil and charcoal. Towards the end of the album are a number of mythological and christian illustrations, as well as some copied from the Italian masters (one captioned 'Fra Angelico San Marco'). After some bucolic eighteenth-century scenes, the last two pages carry seven illustrations of country houses, chateaux and ruins in grounds. Works by this artist come up at auction from time to time (for example one each at Sotheby's and Christie's in 1990), but little is known of the artist's background (or even gender). There may be a family connection with Hector Berlioz's friend in London Adolphe Duchene de Vere, who married an Englishwoman named Isabelle.