Impressive portfolio with detailed and striking portraits of famous painters and other portraits based on famous works of art of the Old Masters. The present set of portraits is especially remarkable, since all illustrations are executed and signed by the same artists, in the same style. It shows the artist B. (or J.?) Bevier's studies during the years 1809, 1810, and 1811. While all illustrations are signed, we have not been able to trace any information about the artist.
In the early 19th century, portrait studies were an essential part of artistic training, allowing artists to practice likeness, draftsmanship, and composition. Since access to original paintings was limited, many relied on very popular, engraved reproductions of Old Master portraits, which provided a rich source for copying and adaptation. The present collection opens with the portrait of the famous Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) after a 17th-century engraving by the Flemish painter, engraver, and print publisher Joannes Meyssens (1612-1670). Subjects of the other portraits in the present collection include other famous European Baroque painters like: Rembrandt van Rijn (1606/1607-1669), Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641), and Ján Kupecký (1667-1740); and also inlcuded are 4 portrait studies after other works of art. The first of these 4 portraits shows the portrait study based on Domenichino's The last communion of Saint Jerome. The original painting was commissioned for the church of San Girolamo della Carità in Rome in 1612. . While originally intended as practice, many portrait studies later became collectible in their own right, valued today both as aesthetic objects and as evidence of 19th-century artistic education and engagement with tradition.
A complete list of contents is available upon request.
The edges of the portrait leaves are slightly frayed, but mounted very neatly on the portfolio leaves. Overall in very good conditon.