Gros & Delettrez
58
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[HANCARVILLE, Pierre François Hugues d’.
See original version (French)
58
-
[HANCARVILLE, Pierre François Hugues d’.
See original version (French)
Estimate €300 - €400
Voluntary lot
Description
[HANCARVILLE, Pierre François Hugues d’.]
Monuments to the Private Lives of the Twelve Caesars, based on a series of engraved stones from their reigns.
Rome: Vatican Press, 1786 (1785 on the frontispiece).
In-12 in format 4, XII–236 pp., frontispiece and 50 plates. 19th-century red morocco, ribbed spine, gilt title, compartments decorated with small gilt ironwork, gilt fillets bordering the compartments and covers, gilt roulettes and fillets framing the inner covers, gilt edges (corners, edges and spines very slightly rubbed, very slight foxing and marginal soiling).
A fine copy with very wide margins.
A rare work of an erotic nature, illustrated with ‘very free’ engravings inspired by Roman antiquity.
An engraved frontispiece title page and 50 drypoint etchings printed in black on azure laid paper.
The figures are set against a black background, within medallions bordered by garlands, foliage and Roman-inspired motifs.
No copy is held by the CCFr (which lists only one title at a different address, in Douai, and that is incomplete).
A brilliant figure in the tradition of Fregoli, Pierre-François Hugues (1719–1805), allegedly Baron d’Hancarville, was by turns a spy, archaeologist, diplomat, historian, archivist and essayist, all driven by a taste for adventure. In Italy, he worked on compiling a catalogue of the collection of antiquities belonging to Sir Hamilton, British Ambassador to Naples between 1764 and 1776, from which he drew considerable inspiration for his publications.
CURIOSA. EROTICA.
Pia, *L’Enfer*, 954–959. These works demonstrate d’Hancarville’s considerable erudition (Cohen, 475).
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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