[The Battle of Arbella] La vertu est digne de l'empire du monde / Alexandre apres plusieurs victoires, deffit Darius dans la bataille qu'il donna prés d'Arbelle [...]
Car. le Brun pinxit J. Audran Excudit [in image] Engraving, platemark 295 x 605mm (11½ x 23¾"), with large margins. Fold through centre as issued; fine impression. Engraving after one of the famous series of 'The Battle of Alexander' by Charles Le Brun (1619-90), which invited comparison between the ancient ruler and the French monarch Louis XIV. When the engraver Girard Audran (1640-1703) returned to Paris after a period of study in Rome at the studio of Carlo Maratti, he was engaged to engrave these four enormous pictures, which took him six years and for which he was paid over 10,000 francs. The series is the masterpiece of an important engraver, and earned him admission to the Académie Royale. IFF 66
[Ref: 45437] £360.00