Descrizione
BARBAULT, JEAN (1718–1762) – Les plus beaux monuments de Rome ancienne … (and:) Les plus beaux edifices de Rome moderne, ou recueil des plus belles vues des principals eglises, places, palais, fontaines etc. qui sont dans Rome … Rome, chez Bouchard & Gravier, de l’Imprimerie de Komarek 1761-1763.
Folio (495 x 365 mm.), 2 volumes bound in early 19th cent. half brown calf, with corners, titles in gold at spines, boards covered with brown speckled paper, coloured edges, flyleaves and pastedowns in marbled paper; an almost contemporary collector’s black stamp, contemp. ownership inscription dated 1788, at first vol., at both vols. bookplate ‘Ing. Roberto Almagià’, so the famous geographer, Accademia dei Lincei member and bibliophile. A clean tear early repaired at half-title of first vol. (no loss). Rome ancienne: pp. viii, 90, with 73 single-page plates, of which 44 plates have 2 separate illustrations in the same sheet, and 9 large engr. tailpieces. Rome Moderne: Engraved vignette on title, pp. (6), 72 and 44 double-page plates, with 21 large engr. tailpieces depicting views of Rome.
A fine set of Barbault’s elegant views of the architectural highlights of ancient and modern Rome. The volume dealing with Roman antiquities has the plates mainly arranged in pairs of one large view and one smaller plate with relating subject matter. The modern views are all impressive double-page plates, with Barbault offering alternative differing angles and points of view, so that he could fill the iconographic voids that could be found in his rival and main source of inspiration, Giambattista Piranesi. Little is known about Barbault’s youth; he was born in Viarmes (France), studied in Paris, and when in 1745 he failed to win the Prix de Rome, travelled to Rome in 1747 at his own expense, established there and survived by undertaking engraving work, and became painter, etcher and printmaker, living and working in Rome for most of his life. There, he was admitted to the French Academy in Rome in 1750, and said to have been a “disciple of Piranesi”. As a painter, Barbault has never been well-known, he is perhaps better known for his etchings, especially for the present work, his masterpiece, whose second volume was published posthumously. Brunet I, 646; Cohen-Ricci 112; Graesse I, 289; Fowler 37; RIBA 184; Rossetti 755; Berlin Katalog 1897; Cicognara 3593; Brunet I, 646. Borroni II, 8139.
