Beschreibung:

PORTRAITS OF ARTISTS. -- The True Effigies Of the most Eminent Painters, and other famous artists that have flourished in Europe... With an account of the time when they lived, the most remarkable passages of their lives, and most considerable works. Very useful for all such gentlemen as are lovers of art and ingenuity. London: D. & T. Browne and I. Smith, 1694. 2° (312 x 193mm.). 2 engraved titles, a plate of Rome personified (a view of the city in the background), 123 engraved portraits. (Some light browning, particularly to the text.) Contemporary panelled sheep (somewhat scuffed, joints slightly split, spine chipped at head and foot). Provenance : N.M. (Nun-Appleton armorial bookplate). The first series of portraits of the famous artists of Europe to be printed in England. The letterpress biographical entries constitute the earliest compendium of the lives of the painters in English. The plates are largely reprints of 2 works: the first is Dominicus Lampsonius' engravings of the painters of the Netherlandish school, originally published in 1572 as Pictorum Aliiquot Celebrium Germaniae Inferioris by Jerome Cockle and Philip Galle The second series is Jan Meyssen's Image de divers hommes desprit sublime printed in Antwerp in 1649. This work is traditionally ascribed to Sebastiano Resta: this is an error as his Parnasso de' Pittori was not published until 1707. The engravings in the present compendium were printed again in 1739 and it was only then that Reta's text was appended. Brunet III.410; Wing R-1174.