Artistes

1728 · 365 — The Hague Netherlands: Pieter de Hondt 1728. First Edition. Contemporary fine mottled full calf. FINE. Gerard Hoet Arnold Houbraken Bernard Picart. One of the most beautiful collections of illustrated scenes from the Bible published in the 1700s. This masterful suite of drawings was initiated by the renowned artist Bernard Picart in 1720 with the assistance of the Dutch painter Gérard Hoet and his protege Arnold Houbraken for what would undoubtedly become the pinnacle of the Figures of the Bible genre. Figures of the Bible engravings represent or signify scripture through cycles of prints covering the entire Bible and was first popularized in the 1500s.<br> <br> Condition: FINE interior for a nearly 300-year-old folio FINE to VERY FINE PLATES. Complete. An exemplary copy.<br> <br> BOOK INFO<br> <br> Translated Title: Figures of the Bible. Scenes of the Principal Histories of the Old and New Testament And Other Books Added to the Holy Scripture Drawn by the Renowned Artists Hoet Houbraken and Picart and Engraved by the Best Masters in Copper and Fully Described. <br> <br> Three volumes bound together. Published in 1728 by Pieter de Hondt in The Hague Netherlands. First edition. Descriptive text of the plates/Bible scenes in Dutch by Jacques Saurin. Second engraved title pages in French. Polyglot plate captions in six languages Dutch English French German Latin and either Hebrew Old Testament and Apocrypha or Greek New Testament. Vignette titles pages in red and black. Bound in contemporary fine mottled full calf: spine with seven gilded raised bands separating compartments richly ruled and tooled in gilt and a gilt-lettered red morocco spine label in compartment two. All board edges with a gilt roll. All page edges speckled. Heavy crown folio 16.5" x 11" x 3.5" thick. Collated and complete: 3 blanks 4 148 i.e. really 150 as 10-11 page numbers repeated twice pp.; 2 149-280 i.e. 151-282 for aforementioned reason 14 pp. 4 160 pp. 3 blanks; 214 copper engraved plates including 2 frontispieces 2 engraved dedication pages and 29 double page; 3 vignette title pages; 2 additional engraved title pages; Hundreds of historiated and decorated engraved initials; hundreds of engraved vignette head- and tail-pieces or exquisite engraved cul-de-lampe chapter ends. Thick high-quality wide-margined paper particularly the stunningly white paper used for the plates. A monumental publication of the highest quality and one of the finest books of engravings of the 18th century.<br> <br> CONDITION REPORT<br> <br> FINE INTERNALLY for a large nearly 300-year-old folio.<br> <br> Exterior and binding: Firm binding hinges and joints. Spine and its gilt work remarkably well preserved heavy volumes such as this are often rebacked or with significant binding strain/issues. Board edge gilt work remarkably well preserved more worn on bottom edge from shelf rubbing. Leather is colorful and supple. Rubbing to boards with some scratches scuffing a few spots of dried white paint on rear board and some splotches of leather darkening. Lightly rubbed edges and corners quite scarce given the size and age. Amazingly the top edge is not darkened caused by layers of dust accumulation over many years in nearly all antiquarian books. This book has clearly been safely stored away from the sun and dust for hundreds of years. Quite beautiful with stunning shelf appeal. Recommend storing book on its side to reduce strain on the binding.<br> <br> Interior: FINE. Very light dust to endpapers quite scarce some toning to endpapers. Pages are white and bright and mostly quite clean aside from some light marginal finger soiling on occasion. Plates are well struck vivid and clean. Nearly all plates are beautifully FINE to VERY FINE VF when the pages are impressively as white as the day they were cut chiefly toward the latter half of the book. Only a few leaves with some toning/modest foxing. No foxing to an infrequent spot of foxing otherwise. A few leaves with small nicks/areas of very small loss to margin not affecting text. A cluster of bent page corner tips in the third part. A hole affecting the page numbers in an Apocrypha related leaf. Some other signs of light handling. No water dampening no worming no writing no ex libris marks no former owner bookplates.<br> <br> All in all a superior remarkably preserved collectible copy of one of the finest illustrated books of the 18th century.<br> <br> ABOUT THE ARTISTS<br> <br> Bernard Picart or Picard 1673 - 1733 was a French draughtsman engraver and book illustrator in Amsterdam who showed an interest in cultural and religious habits. Most of his work was book-illustrations for which he collaborated with local artists like Gerard Hoet and Arnold Houbraken. The illustrations were used in various publications including Taferelen der voornaamste geschiedenissen van het Oude en Nieuwe Testament 1728. <br> <br> Gerard Hoet 1648 - 1733 was a Dutch Golden Age painter and engraver. Gerard Hoet trained with his father and brother who were glass painters. in 1697 he founded a drawing academy in Ultrecht. During this period he painted decorations in leading homes of gentlemen in the Utrecht area. In 1715 he returned to The Hague where he spent the rest of his life often collaborating on drawing projects with Picard.<br> <br> Jacobus Houbraken 1698 - 1780 was a Dutch engraver and the son of the artist and biographer Arnold Houbraken 1660-1719 whom he assisted in producing a published record of the lives of artists from the Dutch Golden Age. Houbraken devoted himself almost entirely to portraiture and became quite famous often dubbed the Dutch Hogarth. Pieter de Hondt unknown