Jacques-Louis Bance

Jacques-Louis or J. -L. Bance (17 April 1761 - 26 March 1847) was a French print dealer, publisher, engraver and artist. He was also known as Bance the Elder to distinguish him from his brother Charles, also an engraver and print dealer.^[1]

Life

Born in Claville to a farmer, he was orphaned aged nine and apprenticed to a master saddler in Évreux. He left to work in Normandy as a companion saddler before setting up a business in Paris in 1787 as a master saddler.^[1] He first produced an engraving in 1789 and particularly focussed on historic scenes. He became a publisher and print dealer. To export prints he invented a system allowing him to transport them under glass - his method remains secret. He specialised in publishing books of figures and architectural periodicals such as Etudes relatives a l'art des constructions (Relative Studies on the Art of Construction; 1823-1828).^[2] From 1831 to 1846 he traded with his son Balthazar Bance (1804-1862) as "Bance aîné et successeur" (Bance the Elder and [his] successor).^[1]

He became the brother-in-law of Jean-Denis Barbié du Bocage in February 1792 then the father-in-law of the print dealer Jean-Baptiste Caillard (1776-1833).^[1] He died in Paris in 1847 (having stopped work as an engraver only the year before^[3]) and his son inherited his business.^[1] His body rests in the 18th division of the cimetière du Père-Lachaise under a small monument (belonging to the family of Hervé Bernard, great-grandfather of admiral Henri Rieunier), with the inscription "Bienfaiteur de Claville" ("Benefactor of Claville").^[4]

Work

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He mainly produced drawings and engravings in burin and etching on symbolic patriotic themes.