75 - [ART] - QUATREMÈRE DE QUINCY, Antoine-Chrysostome

[ART] - QUATREMÈRE DE QUINCY, Antoine-Chrysostome Canova and His Works, or Historical Memoirs on the Life and Works of This Famous Artist Paris, Adrien Le Clere & Co., 1834 In-8°. Lavallière half-calf. Spine (thinned) with 4 raised bands decorated with gilded panels and arabesques. Normal wear and tear. Foxing. First edition of this major biographical and critical monograph, written by the eminent archaeologist and permanent secretary of the Academy of Fine Arts, Antoine-Chrysostome Quatremère de Quincy (1755–1849). A close friend and longtime correspondent of Antonio Canova (1757–1822), the author offers here a first-rate account and a profound aesthetic analysis of the leading figure of Neoclassicism in sculpture. The book traces, step by step, the Venetian master’s career, the creation of his masterpieces (Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss, the papal funerary monuments, and The Three Graces), and his theoretical influence on European art. References: Vicaire, *Manuel de l’amateur de livres du XIXe siècle*, VI, 894 Provenance: from the library of Philippe Kervyn of Volkaersbeke (ex-libris) Also included: ROYAL ACADEMY OF PAINTING AND SCULPTURE Unpublished Memoirs on the Lives and Works of the Members of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, published from manuscripts preserved at the Imperial School of Fine Arts Paris, J.-B. Dumoulin, 1854, 2 volumes In-8°. Aubergine half-maroquin. Spine (faded) with 4 raised bands decorated with gold beading. Normal wear and tear. Scattered foxing. First edition of this indispensable biographical collection for the history of French art under the Ancien Régime. The text was compiled and edited collectively by a team of leading scholars: Louis Dussieux, Eudore Soulié, Charles-Philippe de Chennevières-Pointel, Paul Mantz, and Anatole de Montaiglon. Published under the auspices of the Ministry of the Interior, the work unearths and compiles the valuable biographical entries written in the 17th and 18th centuries by the institution’s official historians (such as Guillet de Saint-Georges, the Count of Caylus, and Lépicié). A first-rate documentary source containing the biographies of dozens of major painters and sculptors, including Eustache Lesueur, Charles Le Brun, and Antoine Watteau. References: Vicaire, *Manuel de l’amateur de livres du XIXe siècle*, V, 694; Brunet, III, 1592.