PERRIER, François.
Kunstkabinet, besluitende hondert der allerberoemste antique stantbeelden staende binnen Rome. Op eene uitvoerige wyze, naer de origineele afgeteekend, denende tot een vervolgh op de beschryving van het oude en nieuwe Rome van den heer François Desseine, en, om hunne uitmuntentheit, in het koper gebraght door de twee Cornelissen van Daelen. Een werk zeer nuttigh voor alle beeldhouwers, schilders, graveerders en teekenaers. Hier by komt eene uitvoerige beschryving van yder stantbeeld, aentoonende de plaetsen alwaer de zelve vertoond werden, de naemen der werkmeesters en de historie der zelve. Alles uit de oudheit der schryvers opgedolven.
The Hague, Bernardus van der Cloesen, 1737. Large folio. With a large engraved printer's device on the title page, the title printed in red and black, a richly engraved allegorical title page heading the print-series, and 100 full-page plates of Roman classical statues, engraved by Cornelis van Dalen, both the Elder and the Younger, after designs by François Perrier. Contemporary blind-tooled vellum. [2], 54, [2] pp. + 100 plates.
€ 7,500
Third Dutch edition, enlarged with extensive explanatory text, of a famous model book, perfectly depicting one hundred of the most famous and most beautiful of Roman classical sculptures. Already in the early modern period, classical sculptures were being recommended as models for drawing. They were judged to be perfect for the teaching of dimensions and proportions, as well aesthetics. The title of the present edition, as well as the new publisher's preface both stress the importance of the print-series for artists, students of art, travellers, and topographical historians. The preface also especially emphasizes that the work has great value for the education of youth, who could now be taught the secrets of art without having to travel to Rome.
The original plates are by Francois Perrier (1590-1650) who studied in Rome from 1635 to 1628 and again from 1635 to 1645. During his first visit, he was employed in Lanfranco's studio and was influenced by his master's work. He also admired the painting of Pietro da Cortona and the Carracci. Perrier's work was significant in that it helped introduce Baroque style to France. He also "has brought the antique art to the Netherlands", as Wibrandus de Geest (d. 1716) wrote in his Kabinet der statuen (1702), which contained rather primitive and much smaller copies of Perrier plates.
The prints series of one hundred drawings of classical sculptures is roughly divided in first male then female statues, and starts with Laocoön, Marcus Aurelius on the Capitolino, Cleopatra, and the Hercules Farnese. It includes statues of centaurs, Roman emperors, equestrian statues, satyrs, sportsmen, several Apollos and Venuses, classical Gods and Heroes, an impressive Niobe, several reclining statues, including Cleopatra and the Gof of the Nile, etc., which are standing in the city of Rome, the Vatican and the houses and gardens of important families: the Medici, Justiniani, Borghese, Farnese, etc.
The plates are numbered from 1 to 100, are signed by either artist, and have engraved captions, including the places where the statues are to be seen in Rome. Added to the present new edition are extensive texts explaining the mythological or historical history of each statue, based on descriptions by L. Smids, J. Oudaen, D. van Hoogstraten, F. Desseine, etc., including quotations of or references to the translations of the Classics by main Dutch poets, like Vondel, Westerbaen, Van Vollenhove, Hoogvliet, and Poot.
With the bookplate of Andries van Eck mounted on the recto of the first free flyleaf. The vellum is slightly soiled, with a small green stain in the back. The work is slightly browned throughout. Otherwise a large paper copy ins good condition. Hollstein V, p. 106, Van Dalen 37-106 (incomplete?); Kunst op Schrift 320; STCN 192391100 (8 copies); cf. Bolten pp. 257-9, incl. notes; Thieme-Becker 8, pp. 291-292 (Van Dalen father & son), and 26, p. 437-438 (Perrier).
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