[GALEOTTI, Niccolò]. - Lot 62

[GALEOTTI, Niccolò]. Museum Odescalchum sive Thesaurus antiquarum gemmarum cum imaginibus in iisdem insculptis, et ex iisdem exsculptis, quae a serenissima Christina Suecorum regina, collectae in Museo Odescalcho adservantur, et a Petro Sancte Bartolo quondam incisae, nunc primum in lucem proferuntur Rome, Jean Généreux Salomon, 1751-1752 CHRISTINE OF SWEDEN'S COLLECTION OF GEMS, ENGRAVED STONES AND CAMEOS. ORIGINAL EDITION of the text 2 parts bound in 2 folio volumes (340 x 230mm). Title printed in red and black, engraved vignette on title pages, large engraved headbands and initials. COLLATION and ILLUSTRATION: 2 f. n. e., XLVIII, 60 pp. 49 plates out of text. for volume 1; XVII, 132 pp. e., 55 plates out of text. (miscalculated 53) for volume 2, for a total of 104 plates drawn and engraved by Pietro Sante Bartoli. ITALIAN BINDINGS OF THE PERIOD. Corner vellum spine, boards covered with pink granite paper. The plates alone in this work had already appeared in Rome in 1747, but their explanations by Niccolò Galeotti are printed here for the first time. The illustration, consisting of 104 hors-texte plates, gives an idea of the wealth of the collections acquired on the death of the former Queen of Sweden by Livio Odescalchi, Duke of Bracciano and nephew of Innocent XI. Pietro Sante Bartoli, painter and etcher, drew the antique with great accuracy, and his engravings helped to popularize the masterpieces of Greek and Roman art in Europe. "Bartoli has brought his brilliant, easy talent to bear here; the stones are on a large scale and etched by a burin as supple as a pencil" (Vinet). At the heart of the Roman court in the late 17th century, Prince Livio I Odescalchi (1658-1713), nephew of Blessed Innocent XI, made the cultivation and practice of collecting an ars vivendi, long before and beyond his resounding purchase of the prestigious collections of Queen Christine of Sweden, acquired in 1696 from Marquis Pompeo Azzolini. The one hundred and twenty-three paintings in this prestigious collection were sold to Philippe d'Orléans and formed one of the best parts of the famous Orléans collection. BIBLIOGRAPHY : Cicognara, no. 2745 -- Vinet, no. 1622: "Bartoli has applied his brilliant and easy talent here; the stones are on a large scale and etched by a burin as supple as a pencil" -- de Backer, 1854, p. 214