![[Julius Caesar making an offering to the gods]](jpegs/43148.jpg)
[Julius Caesar making an offering to the gods][Vide Plin. Hist. Nat. LXXXVII C.II]
G.B. Cipriani inv. F. Bartolozzi sculp. London 1780
Etching and engraving, rare; platemark 330 x 240mm (13 x 9˝"). Good impression; glued to backing sheet at corners.
Proof impression of the frontispiece to the first volume of 'Geminarum antiquarum delectus...', a publication detailing highlights from the collection of gems assembled by the fourth Duke of Marlborough, George Spencer (1739-1817) at Blenheim Palace. The book, in two volumes, was initially printed in an edition of one hundred copies for private distribution before being republished in 1845. Etching by Francesco Bartolozzi (1725-1815) after his frequent collaborator Giovanni Battista Cipriani (1727-85). Bartolozzi was born in Florence but migrated to England, and in 1768 was elected as a founding member of the Royal Academy in London (the RA did not admit engravers at this time but made an exception in his case). He was already hailed as the best engraver in Italy when he met George III's librarian Richard Dalton in 1763. Dalton invited Bartolozzi to London with a promise of an appointment as engraver to the king. In England he became the most celebrated exponent of the 'stipple' technique whereby he produced prints using dots rather than lines. In 1801 Bartolozzi was invited to Lisbon to reform the royal printing press, and he spent his final years in Portugal. This impression from the collection of Dr. Augusto Calabi of Milan, art historian who co-authored (with A.B. de Vesme) the authoritative catalogue raisonné of Bartolozzi's work.
Calabi & de Vesme 1740 ii/iv; for the frontispiece to the second volume of the 'Geminarum antiquarum delectus...' see ref. 42029.
[Ref: 43148] £260.00
Etching and engraving, rare; platemark 330 x 240mm (13 x 9˝"). Good impression; glued to backing sheet at corners.
Proof impression of the frontispiece to the first volume of 'Geminarum antiquarum delectus...', a publication detailing highlights from the collection of gems assembled by the fourth Duke of Marlborough, George Spencer (1739-1817) at Blenheim Palace. The book, in two volumes, was initially printed in an edition of one hundred copies for private distribution before being republished in 1845. Etching by Francesco Bartolozzi (1725-1815) after his frequent collaborator Giovanni Battista Cipriani (1727-85). Bartolozzi was born in Florence but migrated to England, and in 1768 was elected as a founding member of the Royal Academy in London (the RA did not admit engravers at this time but made an exception in his case). He was already hailed as the best engraver in Italy when he met George III's librarian Richard Dalton in 1763. Dalton invited Bartolozzi to London with a promise of an appointment as engraver to the king. In England he became the most celebrated exponent of the 'stipple' technique whereby he produced prints using dots rather than lines. In 1801 Bartolozzi was invited to Lisbon to reform the royal printing press, and he spent his final years in Portugal. This impression from the collection of Dr. Augusto Calabi of Milan, art historian who co-authored (with A.B. de Vesme) the authoritative catalogue raisonné of Bartolozzi's work.
Calabi & de Vesme 1740 ii/iv; for the frontispiece to the second volume of the 'Geminarum antiquarum delectus...' see ref. 42029.
[Ref: 43148] £260.00