Descrizione

MARIESCHI, MICHELE – Magnificentiores selectioresque Urbis Venetiarum prospectus.

Venice: by the author, 1741.

Folio (437 x 325 mm.), contemporary speckled calf, gilt spine with raised bands, nicely tooled in gold in compartments, title on red morocco label, end-leaves in contemporary marbled paper, an excellent, genuine fresh copy (careful repairs to the corners, and to spine). Title-page with the portrait of the artist by Carlo Orsolini after Angelo Trevisani, dated 1741, and the complete set of 21 etchings on laid paper, watermarks Crossbow, all early, fine and luminous impressions of the first state (of four), before the plate numbers and before the baroque church facade on Campo S. Rocco was altered, with very wide margins, in very fresh condition.

First edition, a magnificent copy of this famous and sought-after collection of views of the Serenissima, an absolute masterpiece by Michele Marieschi, painter and engraver of capriccios and views, whose main patron was the well-known collector Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg. In the production of these plates, very rich in variations useful for documenting the history of the buildings in Venice, Marieschi demonstrates an uncommon technique and inspiration, together with a subtle and precise graphic style that had few equals at the time. Berlin Katalog 2697; Cicognara 4040; Dario Succi, Le incisioni di Michele Marieschi, Padova, 1981.