FÉLIBIEN, André - Lot 29

FÉLIBIEN, André Description of the Versailles grotto Paris, De l'Imprimerie royale, by Sébastien Mabre-Cramoisy, 1679 A FINE COPY IN RED MOROCCO STAMPED WITH THE ROYAL COAT OF ARMS. LES IMAGINATIONS D'UN VERSAILLES DISPARU: "IL N'Y A PAS D'ENDROIT DANS TOUTE CETTE MAISON ROYALE, OÙ L'ART AIT RÉUSSI PLUS HEUREUSEMENT QUE DANS LA GROTTE DE TÉTHYS" (FÉLIBIEN) ILLUSTRRATED FIRST EDITION, with the relay title dated 1679 (the first printed title page bears the date 1676). Royal arms on title, vignette at head and engraved initials. folio (559 x 405mm) ILLUSTRATION: 20 engraved plates (including three on double-page) by Le Pautre, Chauvelot, Edelinck, Goyton, Baudet CONTEMPORARY BINDING. Red morocco, gilded decoration, royal coat of arms in the center of the boards (foreign), framed with filets and roulettes, ornate ribbed spine, gilded edges. PROVENANCE: Paris, January 20, 2012, lot 60 André Félibien, sieur des Avaux et de Javersy (1619-1695) was one of the great "intellectuals of state" of the Century of Louis XIV. Early on, he became embassy secretary to the Marquis de Fontenay-Mareuil in Rome, where he became close to Poussin. In 1666, he became Historiographe du roi et de ses bâtiments, arts et manufactures de France and, in 1671, secretary to the Académie d'architecture. In addition to his various duties, this Fouquet protégé wrote descriptions of royal festivals, Versailles and the Crown's collections. Considered one of the leading theorists of classicism, Félibien is notably the author of Entretiens sur les vies et les ouvrages principaux des plus excellents peintres anciens et modernes (1666-1688). The Grotte de Versailles, also known as the Grotte de Téthys, is a jewel of the French classical style. It was built between 1665 and 1666 on the north side of the château and in front of the present-day chapel. Adorned with three large sculpted marble groups representing Apollo bathed by nymphs and the Sun, it was the main feature of the gardens of the first Versailles. With its numerous water features and Francine's hydraulic organ, it was admired throughout Europe. The roof of the grotto supported a reservoir of water pumped from the Clagny ponds. The walls were decorated with shells. Destroyed in 1684 to create the north wing of the château, the sculpted groups it contained are the only surviving reminders of its past. They can now be found in the Bosquet des Bains d'Apollon, designed by Hubert Robert between 1778 and 1781. This collection forms the first part of the sixth volume of the King's Cabinet. The text by André Félibien (1619-1695) was first published on its own in 1672 by Sébastien Mabre-Cramoisy in in-4 format, then in 1674 in in-12 format. BIBLIOGRAPHY : Brunet, I, col. 1443 -- Millard, French Books, no. 69 (1676) -- Berlin Kat., no. 3446 (1676) -- Susan Taylor-Leduc, "A new Treatise in Seventeenth-Century Garden History: André's Félibien Description de la Grotte de Versailles", in Studies in the History of Design & Gardens Landscape, 18.1 (1998), 35-51, which gives an embryonic bibliography for the various editions of the Grotte