PERRIER, François, dit le Bourguignon - Lot 23

PERRIER, François, dit le Bourguignon Segmenta nobilium signorum e statuarum quae Roma. [Rome], [Iacobi de Rubeis], 1638 THE INVENTORY OF THE GREATEST GRECO-Roman STATUES STILL EXISTING IN ROME IN THE 17th CENTURY. ORIGINAL EDITION dedicated to the Duc de Liancourt. In-4 (303 x 220 mm). Entirely engraved ILLUSTRATION: 1 frontispiece and 100 etched plates, numbered and signed with the monogram "FPB", including 2 fold-outs depicting antique statues drawn by the painter and engraver François Perrier (1594-1650), 2 index plates bearing the date Rome 1653 CONDITION: title engraved in first state, before the letter, i.e. before the address of the publisher Joannes Jacobus de Rubeis (16..-1691) (as in the INHA copy) and before the bookseller's address (as in the British Museum copy). The title is known in five states ROMAN BINDING OF THE PERIOD. Ivory vellum, gilt decoration, double fillet, fleurons at the corners, spine decorated with coat of arms with eagle displayed, laces, speckled edges. PROVENANCE : Princes Borghese (?), on their coat of arms Scattered brown spots, marginal tear in plate 91, but no damage to the engraving. The present work is the most important successor to the Antiquarum Statuarum Urbis Roma (1594) by Giovanni Battista Cavaleri (1525-1601). François Perrier (c. 1590-1656) was a famous French painter, friend and disciple of Simon Vouet, who made several trips to Rome between 1624 and 1645. A member of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture on his final return to Paris, his emphasis in this book, printed in Rome, is on massive musculature and dramatic shading, helping to create the image of monumentality and power for which classical sculpture was appreciated in the following century. François Perrier's pupil was Charles Le Brun. BIBLIOGRAPHY : Brunet, IV, col. 512 -- Robert-Dumesnil, Le Peintre graveur français, VI.176.41.III -- Berlin Kat. 4202 -- Cicognara, 3538