320 - BIBIENA, Giuseppe Galli da.

BIBIENA, Giuseppe Galli da. Architecture and Perspectives, Dedicated to the Majesty of Charles VI. (Augsburg), Andrea Pfeffel, 1740. 5 parts in one folio volume, engraved title page, dedication, allegorical frontispiece, large portrait, and 43 plates, some in Italian format. 19th-century marine half-shagreen binding, percaline covers stamped with a geometric border pattern, spined back decorated with panels filled with scattered golden ermines, gilt title (worn at the top and bottom, small losses on the spine, a few stains and scuffs on the covers, slight foxing along the edges of the plates, a few small spots on one engraving, faint marginal water stain at the top of a few plates in Part 3, faint lower water stain at the bottom of two engravings in Part 5, two loose plates, seven engravings missing). Bibliography: Berlin Cat., 4152. Cicognara, 431. Fowler, 136. Description: First edition and the only early edition of Bibiena’s “brilliant Baroque compositions” (Fowler). A superb volume of perspective drawings and architectural designs depicting catafalques, theater sets, a series on the Passion set within architectural frames, and decorations for the Vienna Riding Hall for the wedding of Archduchess Mariana to Prince Charles of Lorraine... Giuseppe Bibiena (1696–1757), painter, architect, set designer, and theater decorator, owes his fame to his sets for funeral and wedding ceremonies, his theatrical machinery, and his lineage of great Baroque architects. Of particular note is an impressive design for a cenotaph for King Henry IV. A complete set of the beautiful full-length portrait of Charles of Habsburg, known as Charles VI, Archduke of Austria and Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, finely engraved in black on copper by Andreas and Joseph Schmuzer after a work by de Meÿtenset. The engraved title page with a vignette in an ornamental frame is sometimes suggested to be the cover. Includes 43 plates, engraved in black on copper out of 50 (the following plates are missing: 4 from Part 1, 1 from Part 3, 2 and 4 from Part 4, and 3, 4, and 5 from Part 5) by A. & J. Schmuzer, J.A. Pfeffel, L. Zucchi, and S. Kleiner, based on Bibiena’s drawings and designs. A fine copy.