72 - [LEPAUTRE, MARIETTE, BERAIN...]

[LEPAUTRE, MARIETTE, BERAIN...] [BAROQUE ALBUMS - Miscellaneous collections of engravings. (Paris, 17th and 18th centuries). 2 large folio volumes, 62 ff. and 79 ff., mounted on tabs containing 141 engravings. 19th-century red half-shagreen with corners, ribbed spine, ornate panels, triple gilt fillet on the covers (bindings rubbed and occasionally slightly cracked, volumes unbound, pages reinforced at the tabs, a few engraving sheets browned or showing foxing, water stains, or spots, but mostly good copies, one loose sheet). An impressive composite collection of prints depicting architecture, interior design, decorative arts, ornamentation, and fine arts from the 17th and 18th centuries. Two albums containing a total of 141 sheets of thick, tinted vellum, mounted on tabs, featuring copperplate engravings on both the front and back, with sometimes several engravings per page—totaling more than 300 engravings. Prints are primarily in black, of highly varied sizes and origins, after Lepautre, by Pierre Mariette, N. Langlois, Le Blond, Marot, Mondon, or various publishers and engravers... Some originate from Lepautre’s albums. Most are mounted (fixed on one side) on folio-sized sheets of thick, tinted vellum. Some illustrations of grotesques, Rococo and Rocaille styles, plates of decorative arts, furniture plates, stucco work, architectural views, allegories, bas-reliefs, trophy designs, an album of fireplaces, and occasionally the frontispiece titles of the albums... Of note are two red chalk prints in quarto format on blue-tinted laid paper, as well as two large pen-and-ink sketches depicting decorative motifs in Rome, accompanied by a handwritten note from the period (possibly in Sanson’s own hand). Provenance: The albums were mounted by Ernest Sanson (1836–1918), an architect in Paris, with his gilt monogram embossed on the spine of the bindings and his seal on one leaf. Sanson’s distinctive style involved the design of elegant residences inspired by the finest classical models; he enjoyed great renown among an aristocratic and wealthy bourgeois clientele. These albums would therefore have played a definite role in his creative inspiration.