LE GUERCHIN (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, known as Guercino - Lot 2

LE GUERCHIN (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, known as Guercino or le Guerchin). Sereniss. Mantuae Duci Ferdinando Gonzaghae DD. Jo. Franciscus Barberius Centen. Inventor / Questo è il vero Originale / Si stampa per Gio. Giacomo Rossi in Roma alla Pace / Oliverius Gattus sculpsit 1619. An Italian-style in-4 volume in starred dominoté paper, featuring a frontispiece and a series of 21 engravings after Le Guerchin's Cahier de dessins. Very rare first edition of this book of engravings after drawings by Le Guerchin (1591-1666), considered one of the leading painters of the Bolognese school and one of the most accomplished draftsmen of the Italian Baroque period. This series of anatomical and figurative studies, dedicated to Duke Ferdinand of Mantua of the Gonzaga family (1587-1626), was engraved by Oliviero Gatti (1579-1648). In 1618, Antonio Mirandola - Le Guerchin's patron - asked Oliviero Gatti to engrave Le Guerchin's drawing studies to provide models for students to practice drawing. Guerchin's manual presents a series of anatomical and figurative studies showing how to draw eyes, ears, mouths, hands, arms, feet, torsos and heads of different ages and types. The frontispiece is an allegorical representation of painting in the form of a seated woman with palette and brushes in her hands, painting a coat of arms held by two cherubs, in front of a seascape. Volume printed from the original copper plates engraved in 1619 by Oliviero Gatti. The plates in this series are mentioned in an inventory of the de Rossi family printing works made in 1648, when the inheritance was divided between the four sons of founder Giuseppe il Vecchio de Rossi, who died in 1639. Binding torn. Fine engravings.