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120
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DAVID, Giovanni (1743–1790). Various etchings of portraits d…
See original version (Italian)
120
-
DAVID, Giovanni (1743–1790). Various etchings of portraits d…
See original version (Italian)
Estimate €3,000 - €5,000
Voluntary lot
Description
DAVID, Giovanni (1743–1790). Various etchings of portraits dedicated to Mr Dominique Corvi, the celebrated painter. Venice, 1775.
A nearly complete series, in excellent condition and with full margins, of the *Divers Portraits*, dedicated to the painter Domenico Corvi (1721–1803), Giovanni David’s master during his stay in Rome. The twelve figures, all inspired by everyday life in Venice and its surroundings, vividly capture the theatricality, taste for disguise and colourful popular customs that characterised eighteenth-century Venetian society. Each print bears at the foot a satirical quotation from the Satires of Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (1636–1711), chosen as an ironic and moral commentary on the figure depicted. Giovanni David was the first Italian printmaker to make systematic use of aquatint, then a recently introduced technique, exploiting its potential to achieve a rich range of tonal effects that could scarcely be obtained through etching alone. The combination of aquatint and satirical captions foreshadows an expressive device which, some twenty years later, Francisco Goya would bring to full maturity in his celebrated *Los Caprichos*.
12 aquatint plates (sheet 400 × 280 mm). Complete series comprising: Le Masque au Caffé; Le Zendale; Le Gondolier; Gaspar Gribolari, brocanteur à Padoue; Le Marchand allant à Rialto; Femme de Palestrina; La Servante; Le Paveur; La Cuisinière; Habits of the Nobles; The Venetian Lady in Masquerade Dress; The Weary Wig-Maker. Watermarks: three crescents; IMPERIALE; half-cartouche. Uncut, with hand-made edges (water staining on the right-hand margin, touching the impression on some plates). (1)
See original version (Italian)
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