Knuf - Amsterdam 2005

Back | Table of Contents | About the book shop

Frits Knuf
Antiquarian Books

Bosse, Abraham. Sentimens sur la Distiction des Diverses Manieres de Peinture, Dessein & Graveure, & des Originaux d'avec leurs Copies. Ensemble Du choix des Sujets, & des chemins pour arriver facilement & promptement à bien Pourtraire. A Paris, Chez l'Autheur, en l'Isle du Palais, Sur le Quay qui regarde la Megisserie, 1649. 12mo. xvi,115pp. Frontispiece & 2 plates (plate 1 printed on two sides). Vellum binding. (small damage to top of spine). (stamp in the lower right hand corner of the frontispiece; ownership entry in contemporary hand at the top of the titlepage). (some small spots of foxing on a couple of pages).

€ 2500

Abraham Bosse, (Tours 1602- Paris 1676) was a distinguished French engraver. He was greatly influenced by Girard Desargues who was born in Lyon in 1591 and in Paris in 1626 lays down a proposition for the construction of fountains. Desargues then becomes one of the entourage of Cardinal Richelieu and by 1630 he is one of the best known scholars of his time. In 1636 Desargues publishes his first work Exemples d'une des matières universelles du S.G.D.L. (Sieur Girard Desargues Lyonnais) touchant la pratique de la perspective sans emploier aucun tier point, de distance ny d'autre nature, qui soit hors du champ de l'ouvrage This booklet greatly impressed Abrham Bosse who asked Desargues to become his teacher. When the Académie Royale was founded in 1648 he liked to play a role in this new institution so he approached the Académie and proposed he would give lessons in perspective for free. His offer was accepted and so, three months after the foundation of the Académie Royale he became the first professor of perspective. He stays at the Academy until 1661 when he is forced to leave. Then he starts his own private school at Saint-Denis-de-la-Chartre. Some of his students follow him to this new school where he teaches mostly geometrie and perspecitive, always following the principles of Desargues. But this school is closed down by royal decree in 1662 on the grounds that it would be a danger to the Académie Royale. In the present work Bosse gives a keen analysis of art technique and criticism. He distinguishes between copies from originals and discusses methods of design and painting, engravings, portaiture, expression, colours, light and shade, etc. Of particular interest is his analysis of the styles of various artists: Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Titian, Poussin, Rubens, etc. It is dedicated to the Académie.
(c.f. Universal Catalogue I, 145; Brunet I, 1127; Blum 219, B&W 72/3; Valabregue; Join-Lambert).

Gilbert, C. Collection of Drawings. 18mo. 19th century red half calf, marbled bds. Spine goldtooled.

€ 3400

Collection of 80 drawings, mostly vignettes and culs de lampes by a famous 18th century calligrapher. The introduction to the collection says: J'ai renfermé dans ce petit volume une suite de dessins et de croquis dus a la plume de C. Gilbert, célèbre calligraphe du XVIIIe siècle et maître d'écriture du Duc de Bourgogne. Ce receuil donne le secret à l'aide duquel cet artiste produisait ces magnifiques manuscrits qui sont aujourd'hui si recherchés des amateurs. Les vignettes, culs de lampes, titre de pages qui tels décorent, était tracés sur le vélin à l'aide de plomb. D'autrefois, le trait de l'original était dessiné avec des pointes d'aiguilles sur le papier. Puis le papier étant posé sur le vélin on faisait passer sur les creux (?) une estompe chargée de prendre noir qui passait par cet ouverture et imprimait de légères traces faciles à faire disparaître par la suite. Toute les pièces qui composent cet album ont été ??? par moi à la vente de Gourdon du Mesnil de St. Cyr faite à Versailles en 1847: elle faisaient partie de son cabinet. [signed] P. (?) ?arbré (?)

Back | Table of Contents