WINCKELMANN, Johann Joachim - Lot 77

WINCKELMANN, Johann Joachim Letter from M. l'abbé Winckelmann, antiquaire de Sa Sainteté, to monsieur le comte de Brühl, chamberlain to the King of Poland, Elector of Saxony, on the discoveries at Herculaneum Dresden, N. M. Tilliard, 1764 BOUND IN THE COAT OF ARMS OF COUNT HENRI DE CALENBERG. FORMER COLLECTIONS OF AuguST FitzRoy (3rd DUKE OF GRAFTON), HANS FÜRSTENBERG AND OTTO SCHÄFER First French edition. Translation by Hendrik Jansen according to Brunet, but more likely by Michael Huber and revised by Pierre-Jean Mariette after Vinet. Small in-4 (250 x 196 mm). Copper-engraved title-page vignette and large headband. An initial and a cul-de-lampe engraved on wood. COLLATION : π2 A-N4 O2 : (2) ff. 107 pp. ILLUSTRATION: 1 engraved frontispiece depicting Demosthenes. ANNOTATION: a few corrections in brown ink in the text by a contemporary hand. CONTEMPORARY BINDING. Red morocco, gilt decoration, arms in the center of the boards, triple fillet framing, ornate ribbed spine, gilt edges over marbling. Modern case. PROVENANCE: Henri Reinecke, Count of Calenberg (arms; Brussels, April 26-May 8, 1773) -- August FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, autograph signature and date on title page: "D. of Grafton, 1783" -- Hans Fürstenberg (bookplate) -- Otto Schäfer (Sotheby's London, IV, December 8, 1995, no. 664). Tiny marginal tear to title leaf. In this letter, archaeologist and art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768) refutes the positions of Neapolitan antiquarians and sets out his own. In particular, he mocked the Comte de Caylus, who had mistaken Guerra's work, a forger, for an antique painting. Ironically, Winckelmann was also fooled by other dubious paintings, forgeries later attributed to the painter Casanova. The original edition of the text appeared in Dresden in 1762, under the title Sendschreiben von den herculanischen Entdeckungen. Count de Caylus took revenge: he had the letter translated without Winckelmann's knowledge, and succeeded in publishing it. This explains why the French translation is not by Hendrik Jansen, Winckelmann's usual translator, but by Michael Huber in a version revised by Pierre-Jean Mariette. The work met with some success, and brought Winckelmann unfortunate publicity. BIBLIOGRAPHY : Brunet V, col. 1463 -- E. Vinet, II, 1708 -- Guigard II, 108 -- Armorial belge du bibliophile, p. 687 EXHIBITION : Lessing Ausstellung, Berlin, 1929 (label on last flyleaf)