GORI, Anton Francesco - Lot 66

GORI, Anton Francesco Museum florentinum exhibens insigniora vetustatis monumenta quae Florentiae sunt in thesauro mediceo Florence, Michaël Nesteni and François Moücke, 1731-1766 THE BIRTH OF ONE OF EUROPE'S GREATEST MUSEUMS: THE OFFICES. MONUMENTAL ILLUSTRATED CATALOG OF THE MÉDICIS COLLECTIONS. THE FIRST VISUAL INVENTORY OF THE FUTURE GALERIE DES OFFICES. EXCEPTIONAL DEDICATION EXEMPLAIRE, ELECTRONIC MAROQUIN BINDING, WITH THE ARMS OF LEOPOLD II OF HABSBURG-LORRAINE, GRAND DUKE OF TOSCANY, FUTURE EMPEROR OF GERMANY ORIGINAL EDITIONS 12 parts bound in 11 folio volumes (453 x 362 mm). Titles printed in red and black. Copperplate-engraved vignettes, headbands, initials and endpapers, some repeated. COLLATION: vol. I: [a]-e4 f6 [A]-Z4 2A4 2B6: LII-185-pp., (9) ff. ; vol. II: [a]-c4 d6 [A]-Y4 (Y4 blank): XXXVI-158 pp., (9) ff; vol. III: [a]-c4 d6 A-O4: XXXV-111 pp.; vol. IV: [A]-C4: XXII pp., (1) f.; vol. V: [a]-e4 A-Z4 2A-C4: XXXX-205 pp., (1) f.; vol. VI: [a]-e4 f6 A-Z4 2A-K4 2L6: LII-274 pp., (1) f.; vol. VII: [a]-b4 A-Z4 2A-K4 2L6: XV-274 pp., (1) f.; vol. VIII: [a]4 A-Z4 2A-P4 2Q6: VII-313 pp., (1) f.; vol. IX: [a]4 A-Z4 2A-S4: VII-326 pp., (1) f.; vol. X: [a]4 A-Z4 2A-P4 2Q6 (2Q6 blank) : VII-313 pp.; vol. XI: vol. 1 part 1: π1 [a]-b2 A-N2: (3) ff, IV-L pp., vol. 1 part 2: [a]2 A-P2: (3) ff, LVIII pp., vol. 2 part 1: [a]2 A-N2: (3) ff, L pp., vol. 2 part 2: [a]2 A-P2 (without blank P2): (2) ff, LVIII pp. ILLUSTRATION: 741 copper-engraved PLANCHES after drawings by Giovanni Domenico Campiglia, Giovanni Domenico Ferretti and Antonio Pazzi. Including: Gemmae antiquae (vol. I-II): 200 plates; Statuae antiquae (vol. III): 100 plates; Antiqua numistata (vol. IV-V-VI): 121 plates; Serie di ritratti degli eccellenti pittori (vol. VII-VIII-IX-X): 220 plates; Serie di ritratti dei celebri pittori (vol. XI): 100 plates. UNIFORM ITALIAN BINDINGS OF THE PERIOD. Red morocco, gilded decoration, coat of arms in small irons in the center of the boards, frieze framing, long ornate spines, gilded edges, untrimmed. PROVENANCE : Pierre-Léopold de Habsbourg-Lorraine (1747-1792), Grand Duke of Tuscany under the name of Leopold I (1765-1790; arms), crowned Emperor of the Romans in 1790 -- Biblioteca Cagnola Milano (dry stamp on the first leaves of each volume) and therefore possibly Lodovico Melzi d'Eril, 3rd Duke of Lodi Very rare and pale scattered freckling, slight angular wetness in one volume. The Florentine scholar Anton Francesco Gori (1691-1757) was a priest and antiquarian. He devoted numerous studies to Roman antiquities and the Etruscan people, of whom he was a great connoisseur. In 1735, he was one of the founding members of the Società Colombaria, a circle of scholars which later became the Accademia Toscana di Scienze e Lettere la Colombaria. His crowning achievement was the editing and direction of the Museum florentinum, which describes for the first time the sculptures and antiquities in the Medici collection. Following the death of the last Grand Duke, Jean-Gaston de' Medici, in 1737, the European art market eagerly awaited the eventual dispersal of the famous collections. The reputation of the Habsburgs, heirs to Tuscany and always short of money, as "perforated baskets" was strong. This was not the case. On the contrary, the Habsburgs saved Florence and reorganized the collections. This illustrated catalog represents the first visual archive of the Medici collections. It was born at the instigation of a number of Florence noblemen and antiquarians, who wished to draw up an inventory of the treasures owned by the Grand Dukes of Tuscany, as well as those in some of Florence's private collections. Gori found himself at the head of the project. The publication lasted thirty-five years, from 1731 to 1766. Thanks to the scholarly dissertations contained in the first volumes, Gori quickly gained a European reputation. The drawings and engravings were entrusted to Giovanni Domenico Campiglia, a Florentine painter and aquafortist. The first part of the Museum florentinum shows gems and cameos, the second presents sculptures, the third is devoted to medals and coins, and the last includes three hundred and twenty portraits of Europe's greatest artists: painters, engravers, architects and others. The work had three successive dedicatees. The first was Jean-Gaston de Médicis, son of Cosme III, the last Grand Duke of Tuscany in the Medici line (1723-1737), for the first three volumes. The second dedicatee was, of course, François III de Lorraine, for volumes four to ten. Grand Duke of Tuscany (1737-1765) under the name of Francis I, he had married Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria a year earlier, in 1736. Finally, his son, Leopold II, saw himself