172 - Bartoli.P.S.

Bartoli.P.S. (Raphael’s Frescoes in the Vatican). To Nicolao Simonellio, an outstanding master of painting and all the fine arts. Title page and 10 sheets (instead of 14) of copperplate engravings by Pietro Santi Bartoli after Raphael. 3 loose sheets. - ╔Preceded by (by the same artist: Aula Leonis X.)╗. 14 (instead of 15) copper plates by Pietro Santi Bartoli after Raphael. (Rome, Giovanni Giacomo de Rossi, ca. 1670). 15.2 x 29 cm. Contemporary leather binding (rebound, spine replaced, partially flayed, with scratches and repairs). Cicognara 3600. — Two very rare series of copperplate engravings by the engraver and draughtsman Pietro Santi Bartoli, who worked from ancient models (1635–1700), who became known primarily for his engravings of the friezes on the Roman triumphal columns, etc., but who also traced and had engraved works by Raphael in which the lives of the popes were immortalized à la antica. The series were published by the engraver and publisher Giovanni Giacomo de’ Rossi (1627–1691) and dedicated to the Neapolitan Baroque painter of Flemish origin, Niccolò de Simone (1612–1677): “To Nicolao Simonellio, an outstanding cultivator of painting and all the fine arts.” The “Aula Leonis X” is dedicated to the cardinal and art patron Leopoldo de’ Medici (1617–1675), a descendant of the Medici Pope Leo X: “To His Most Serene Highness Prince Leopoldo de’ Medici—Petrus Sanctes Bartolus, following the style of the Aulaeorum Leonix X, drew this from the margins, and it was engraved in Rome.” Bartoli’s series of copperplate engravings were published by de Rossi in Rome, who also went by the name “de Rubeis”; according to the AKL, they were “highly praised and much sought after.” “Exemplars of the highest beauty and one of the finest works by this engraver, etc. See all the works of Gio. Pietro Bellori, and the entry ‘Raccolta, di varie Antichità’” (Cicognara). - Five plates are missing from the first series and one plate (plate 3) from the second series. Somewhat heavily foxed and browned, but the images are very clear and printed with sharp, high-contrast lines. Front endpaper replaced. Very rare.