272 - [LE BRUN (Charles) & MOREL D'ARLEUX (Louis)]. [Essay on a Treatise by Charles Le Brun Concerning the Relationship Between Human Physiognomy and That of Animals.] [Paris], [Chalcography Department of the Napoleon Museum], [1806]. A set of 30 plates (including 2 duplicates, for a total of 32 physical plates) in folio format, one of which is mounted, the rest in a modern portfolio. Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 31, 34, 35, 36.

[LE BRUN (Charles) & MOREL D'ARLEUX (Louis)]. [Essay on a Treatise by Charles Le Brun Concerning the Relationship Between Human Physiognomy and That of Animals.] [Paris], [Chalcography Department of the Napoleon Museum], [1806]. A set of 30 plates (including 2 duplicates, for a total of 32 physical plates) in folio format, one of which is mounted, the rest in a modern portfolio. Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 31, 34, 35, 36. Plates 10 and 16 are each present in two copies here (one of which is framed for plate 16). A large, light water stain on one of the two copies of plate 10. Small foxing spots on about ten plates. Minor marginal defects, but generally in very acceptable condition. Dimensions: approx. 68 x 49 cm for 4 of them, approx. 59 x 43 cm for the others. A rare series of engravings based on the famous physiognomic studies by Charles Le Brun, Louis XIV’s chief painter, exploring the analogies between human and animal physiognomies. Through striking juxtapositions of human and animal heads, Le Brun sought to highlight the correspondences between their features, expressions, and characters. These drawings, developed as an extension of his research on the expression of passions and presented to the Royal Academy in 1671, remained largely unpublished until the early 19th century. At the instigation of Vivant Denon, they were engraved by Louis-Pierre Baltard and André Legrand for the Chalcography Department of the Napoleon Museum and published in 1806 with an essay by Morel d’Arleux. An incomplete set of 7 prints, lacking the text and the portrait, yet still of great iconographic interest, both for their unusual nature and for the expressive power of his compositions.