On this site this term refers to a wide range of professionals, craftsmen, service providers from the art world or market. The word “Business” thus essentially designates entities operating at a given time and place, defined by a name (and sometimes a shop-sign or insignia), an attested address and dates; this entity may either operate in isolation or constitute an element in a series (referred to on the site as a “Firm”). This unique term of “Business” can refer to entities of a fairly varied nature in terms of their relationship with artists, their materials, and their works. The word “Business” may include all suppliers of artists’ materials (manufacturers, makers, dealers, retailers), be they specialized (“colormen,” “paint sellers,” art or artists’ supplies dealers, etc.), or more general commercial entities dealing in specialized art products as part of their stock (department stores, grocers, stationers, fancy goods and gift shops, haberdashers, cabinetmakers, hardware stores, mirror makers, jewelers, etc.). A “Business” also generally refers to suppliers of materials used by artists, more particularly here supports for paintings and drawings (the only supplies that can be directly identified by the “marks” on them). In some cases, they may purvey materials other than those used directly by the artist to create the artwork, such as frames. “Business” also covers another very different category of allied trades, professionals, and service providers: companies or individual business intervening during the making of the artwork or at a later stage in its existence (restorers, reliners, gallerists, art dealers, hirers of paintings and drawings, antique dealers, framers, shippers, packers, etc.). Collectors and their identifying inscriptions do not fall within the scope of this site. We refer to the available reference tool that covers this field (Frits Lugt, Les Marques de Collections de Dessins & d’Estampes).
Cadastre, plans
Extracts from contemporary plans and surveys from the Napoleonic period land registry or the City of Paris cadastre to allow the accurate location of stores and workshops.
Collection of marks
The “collection of marks” here refers to a section in the Catalogue of Marks corresponding to the marks and labels indicating a particular trader (or retailer), generally found on the back of frames and other supports of paintings and drawings. Our classification distinguishes between marks (in ink, burnt, stamped or embossed), designated by the suffix “M”, from labels, designated by the suffix “E”. Cataloguing equates to classification by distinct type, each receiving a unique number with a suffix, such as “M-1”, “M-2”, or “E-1”, “E-2”, etc. Each type (vertical column on the left) is illustrated by a particularly legible specimen, ideally of known measurements, and is accompanied by the group of apparently identical specimens (horizontal row). In addition, each photograph of the mark or label is allotted a unique number in the form of “ID: 123”. To note the presence of a mark that appears to be identical to a type or specimen referenced in the Guide: cite the reference in the form “GL-Belot-M-1”, for example. To refer to a particular object or photograph: add the unique number in the form “ID: 96”, for instance. The number assigned to each type does not necessarily equate to the chronological order of the appearance of the various marks or labels in the history of a particular commerce. We are able to classify types chronologically only in the case of collections that are already well established at the time of data entry. Finally, the dates supplied can only be indicative, being based on comparison with a group of copies, or on the date of the work or object bearing the mark or label, whenever this date can be established. Our dating is for the marking itself, i.e., the time the stamp, mark or label was affixed. Such dating cannot be used to date an artwork (painting, drawing) or other object associated with the said mark or label, either directly (on the original support) or indirectly (on a secondary support, after restoration, on a frame or drawing mount, etc.). In many cases uncertainty remains as to the place of such marking in the chain of events preceding, coinciding with, and subsequent to the genesis of an artwork. The suffixes employed here are: “E” (étiquette) for label; “M” for mark; "MD" (marque deposée) for trademark; "MR" (marque en relief ou en creux) for punch, hotpunching, blind-stamping, embossing, gauffering.
Commercial articles
Photographs of commercial material other than marks and labels, such as notebooks, albums, stationery, cameras and other optical equipment, easels, paint-tubes, pastel or paint boxes, painter's and draftsman's materials, etc.
Copy
Synonyms: specimen, sample, example. Generally on this site this term refers to each occurrence of a mark taken from the same type. In essence, though such marks are “multiples,” they all differ individually depending on the nature and relief of the support, the gestures made when applying it, the nature of the ink, the wear of the tool used, etc. Each mark on a support is in fact unique to a given artwork that will in principle be identified on this site, except for reasons of confidentiality. Cataloguing consists in classifying and simplifying these entries, grouping all recorded copies under the same “Type”. Each copy or example, together with each image on the site, is assigned a unique and permanent identification number (or ID) in the form: “123”. In the catalogue of marks on the site each unique object consisting in a mark recorded or photographed on the back of the pictorial support or on its frame therefore possesses a catalogue number consisting in the identifier of the type and the copy: “GL-Belot-M-1” / “123”.
Dimensions (of marks)
The dimensions appearing on our data sheets indicate, in millimetres, the extreme height and then width of all inscriptions, drawings, etc. constituting a given mark, including borders, if relevant. They represent therefore the total dimensions of the ink deposited or transferred in the case of a stencil or stamp, or else of the impression made in the case of a relief, etc.
The sole exception to this rule concerns (paper) labels, when the dimensions used are the total dimensions of the paper, i.e. of the support bearing the mark strictly speaking.
Firm
We use this term on ths site to refer to a commercial entity, whether family run or not, operating over a certain period of time. The tendency was to keep the name of its founder or a later representative whenever it acquired a status or reputation worth perpetuating, in the form “X and Co.(mpany)” or “X and Sons”). In some cases the continuity of such a firm might be retrospectively doctored and its origin reinvented, in keeping with an advertising principle already well-understood in the period concerned. Certain suppliers, traders etc. appearing in the Guide do not mention the name of the firm or company on their storefront, commercial documents, marks, etc. The “Firm” category is in many cases more effective than the “Business” category in identifying the relevant “marks”.
Handwritten documents
Invoices, estimates, private correspondence and archives, notarial archives, etc.
Marks
Synonyms: stamps, stencils, seals, labels, imprints. On this site “Mark” is an umbrella term used to designate any visual element belonging to the entities listed under the term “Business,” regardless of the materials or tools used in marking and of the support on which it appears. The “Marks” category therefore includes labels, ink marks (as well as stencils and rubber stamps), hollow and raised marks (intaglio stamps, firebranding, embossing), paper watermarks, and, occasionally, wax seals. Naturally the “Marks” designate the visual material contained in the catalogue and are specific to the market protagonists featured in the list of “Businesses.” They therefore identify at once the professionals concerned, their location and period. These marks, generally present on the support of painted and graphic works, or on their frames, bear witness to the origin, provenance, and subsequent history of the materials on which they appear. Some marks listed in the catalogue are independent of any pictorial support or work and may originate in a range of printed sources: trade catalogues, invoice headers, letterheads, business cards, address cards, brochures, etc. The catalogue of “Marks” also covers the specific category of “registered trademarks” (trademarks and brands legally registered as industrial property).
Native stretcher/original stretcher
We permit ourselves the neologism “native” to designate a stretcher already in place when the painting was executed—that is, one on which the canvas used for the picture had been previously stretched. On the other hand, in the case of a painting executed on a canvas stretched or fixed to some other temporary structure, or even simply laid down on a surface, then, following execution, affixed to a stretcher by the artist or a third party, this stretcher is to be described as original if it has never been replaced in the course of time.
Printed matter
Printed images and texts from advertising inserts, press advertisements, newspapers, magazines, exhibition catalogs, posters, commercial catalogues, price lists, business cards, address cards, blank invoice headers, headed notepaper, circulars, etc.
Type
Synonyms: pattern, reference, model. In absolute terms, “Type” refers to the marking tool from which all examples (copies) of a mark, obtained by transfer, printing, stamping, etc., derive. It may therefore be a stamp, openwork vignette, matrix, seal, block, punch, etc. As printed multiples from the same “Type”, labels constitute a special case. As a rule, images of the original marking tools have not survived. On this site, “Type” thus refers to (one of) the most complete, clear, and legible copies made by a given tool; this specimen can then serve as a reference for deciphering or completing less legible examples. The type is assigned a catalogue number in the form “GL-Belot-M-1”. It is characterized by a shape, dimensions, a text or “letter,” occasionally by a pattern or motif, which taken together constitute a single type. Several apparently identical types may only be distinguished by differences in scale, and they may constitute different versions or variants of the same image: hence the importance of dimensions in the cataloguing project.
Views of stores
Photographs, drawings, engravings, and paintings showing shopfronts and facades and interiors of stores and workshops.
