The Lesson of the Chemist Sage at the Hôtel des Monnaies, 1779
Signed and dated in pen and black ink, at lower margin, par Gabriel St Aubin 1779; in graphite, La leçon de M. Sage a l'hotel de la Monaye.
Purchased on the Sunny Crawford von Bülow Fund 1978
On 11 June 1778, Balthasar Georges Sage (1740–1824) was appointed to the newly created chair of domestic mineralogy and metallurgy at the Hôtel des Monnaies. The hôtel, established at the beginning of the fourteenth century, was ordered demolished in 1768 by Louis XV, who that year commissioned Jacques-Denis Antoine to design a new building, which was completed in 1777. The new hôtel attracted the attention of many artists because of the "harmonie des proportions et la magnificence de l'ensemble." This is one of three known drawings by Saint-Aubin recording Sage's lectures and demonstrations.