[Guercino inv. F. Bartolozzi sculp.]
[London: J. & J. Boydell, c.1790s.]
Etching printed in brown ink on laid paper, first state before all letters. 285 x 225mm, 11¼ x 9". A fine impression with full margins. Uncut.
The Christ Child is wrapped in swaddling clothes. After Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (1591 – 1666), known as Guercino. One of a number of prints after drawings by Guercino and other masters in the Royal Collection, etched by Francesco Bartolozzi (1728 - 1815). The original drawings by the Bolognese artist were acquired by the Earl of Bute while on his Grand Tour, and later given to George III. The king's librarian, Richard Dalton, met Bartolozzi in Italy in the early 1760s. This brought Bartolozzi to London in 1764 under Dalton’s employ. The plates were later bought by the London publishers John and Josiah Boydell, and published in two folio volumes. This appeared in Boydells' 'Eighty-two prints, engraved by F. Bartolozzi & c. from the original drawings of Guercino, in the collection of his Majesty'.
De Vesme 2154 [undescribed state].
[Ref: 21268]  £120.00