MENGS (Anton Raphael). - Lot 40

MENGS (Anton Raphael). Complete works. Containing various treatises on the theory of painting. Translated from the Italian. Paris : Moutard, 1787. - 2 volumes in-4, marbled calf, triple gilt fillet framing the boards, ornate ribbed spine, red edges (period binding). Second issue of the first French edition given by de Thou in 1786, with a relay title addressed to Moutard, dated 1787. Translated from Italian by M. Jansen, these works begin with "Mémoires sur la vie et sur les ouvrages de M. Mengs" by the Spanish diplomat José Nicolás de Azara, a great admirer of the German neoclassical painter Anton Raphael Mengs (1728-1779). These memoirs are followed by a "Notice des tableaux de M. Meng". Among the painter's works that follow are "Reflections on beauty and taste in painting", reflections on Raphael, Correggio and Titian, "General rules for master and pupils", etc. The edition is illustrated with an engraved portrait of the painter on the frontispiece of Volume 1, which does not appear in the copies addressed to de Thou. A good copy in contemporary binding. Two hinges cracked, a few stains on boards. Scattered foxing.