5278 - Piranesi, Giovanni Battista

Piranesi, Giovanni Battista with Francesco Bartolozzi (1730 Florence – 1813 Lisbon), among others: *Raccolta di alcuni disegni del Barberi da Cento detto Il Guercino*. Etched title page and 31 etchings on 27 plates (3 double-sheet size, 1 folded multiple times). Approx. 58.5 x 43.5 cm (cover dimensions). Contemporary paperboard binding (spine old, renewed, and with an old spine label; edges scuffed and bumped). No place of publication, G. G. Salomoni. (1764). Hind p. 86; Focillon 983–986. A complete copy of this exceptionally vivid series of etchings featuring religious, secular, and mythological scenes as well as portrait studies, first published in Rome by Salomoni in 1764. “What makes this series of Piranesi’s etchings special is the softness of the line, with which he attempts to do justice to Guercino’s washed drawings—a quality that is so different from his previous prints. Also new is the use of two printing colors—reddish brown and black—with which the engravers of the series, including Piranesi, evidently sought to reproduce the red chalk and black chalk of the original in the print. In many illustrations, the upper portion is always reddish-brown and then gradually transitions to black from the center. Presumably, the mezzotint prints that had just come into fashion in England provided inspiration for this form of printing” (Höper, Giovanni Battista Piranesi 312). The collection of plates was published by Giovanni Battista Piranesi from pieces in his own collection or those of friends. Among the various, mostly Venetian, collections are those of Consul John Smith, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, and Anton Maria Zanetti. Most of the plates are after Guercino da Cento. Plates 2 (copper title page), 16, 22, and 23 were engraved by Giovanni Battista Piranesi; plates 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, and 26 (double sheet) by Francesco Bartolozzi; plates 4, 5, and 24 (4 engravings) by Giacomo Nevay; Plates 11 (2 copperplate engravings), 15, 20, and 21 by Giovanni Ottaviani; Plates 25 and 28 (double-page spread) by Tommaso Piroli; Plate 27 (double-page spread) by J. B. Buratto and Plate 29 (large format, folded multiple times) by Aureliano Milani. The captions are partly in Italian (plates 4, 5, 23, and 26), partly in Latin (plates 3, 6–22, and [29]), and partly in French (plates [25] and [28]). All are magnificent, vivid prints with margins on the full-size sheets. Some show slight foxing; there are expert pencil annotations by a previous owner, minor signs of age and wear, but otherwise in excellent condition. With the bookplates “Tessier, Rue de la Harpe, Paris” and “C. E. Rappaport, Libri rari Roma,” as well as the engraved coat-of-arms ex-libris “Bibliotheca Schubert” belonging to the military cartographer Friedrich Theodor Schubert (1789–1865). The typographic title page with vignette and the plate by G. Ottaviani after Guercino (double-numbered plate 26) were likely included only in the 1764 edition; the copy held by the Berlin State Library is identical to the present copy. - Please request condition reports for the lots, as the condition is usually not specified in the catalog. - Please ask for condition reports for individual lots, as the condition is usually not mentioned in the catalog.