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ODIEUVRE, L. (publisher). Recueil d'Oiseaux, Insectes et Animaux d'après Van Kessel et autres grands Maîtres. Paris, Odieuvre, (1742). Together 12 suites in 1 volume. Small oblong folio (176 x 246 mm). 72 numbered engravings by Dossier, Filloeul, Boitard, Aveline, Lépicié, Sornique, and Faucran after Georg Flegel, Jan van Kessel the Elder, François Boucher, Mlle Tutsch, Christophe Huet, Adam Frans van der Meulen, Antonio Tempesta, Stefano della Bella, Routar and Pierre Boitard. Later French mottled calf, richly gilt decorated spine with gilt lettered label, sides with gilt border lines.

(USD $ 23,300)    EUR 15.500

A delightful and very rare complete series of natural history engravings, of which 28 pates show, amongst others insects. The first plate is the title in a cartouche with shell motives and a swag of foliage and flowers. According to Dr. Sam Segal, this rare series is composed as follows: "Nos 2-24, according to the inscriptions, by Michel Dossier (1684 - Paris - 1750) or Pierre Filloeul after Jan van Kessel. Their real status have been described for the first time by me in an unpublished manuscript 'Die Blumen von Georg Flegel', meant for the Flegel exhibition catalogue, Frankfurt am Main 1993. The editor , who asked me to write the article, did not accept it and published several results himself. My text (mscr. p. 21, translated from the German) reads: Another source of several animals and insects from lost watercolours witness may be found in a series of engravings published in Paris in 1742 by Odieuvre, named 'Recueil d'Oiseaux, Insectes...' It contains four series of six numbered engravings including the title (the text relates to a series of watercolours by Georg Flegel from the Print Room of the Berlin State Museum, from which several got lost during the second world war). The prints are all inscribed lower left with the name of Van Kessel as the original artist, and the name of the engraver lower right. But only 8 of the 23 engravings show clear elements of the works by the Antwerp still-life painter Jan van Kessel the Elder (1626-1679) from the 1650's. Eleven engravings are completely or partly composed after watercolours by Georg Flegel (Olmütz 1566-1638 Frankfurt am Main). They show, a.o. a mouse, a kingfisher, a blue tit and goldfinch, many insects, a spider, shells and a snail, nuts, strawberries, and peas. The impression in the engravings is usually mirrorwise, which could be expected from an offprint of a copper plate incised recto after the model. The engravings relate to nos. 2-12 of the first and second suite (series) Dossier and Filloeil. They are enumerated in the description of the watercolours and in a list of flowers and insects in Flegel's flower paintings in the manuscript. Nos. 13-18 and 23-24 after small paintings by Van Kessel, of which several can be traced. Nos. 19-22 are neither by Van Kessel nor by Flegel, they show a bird on a branch like in watercolours by Johannes Bronckhorst, surrounded by butterflies and other insects. The source has to be investigated. No. 25 'Fisionomia del Rinoceros', with a figure (half -length); nos. 26-28 a beaver, bear and cameleon in a landscape by and after P[ierre] Boitard (Thieme & Becker, vol, 4, p 233, probably erronously, neglect a Pierre Boitard from literature and believes that he should be Louis Philippe Boitard the Elder. Nos. 31-36 each with a bird and butterflies or other insects by Boitard after Mlle Tutsch. Nos.37-42 'singeries' by Boitard, Filloeul or Pierre Alexandre Aveline the Younger (Paris 1702-1760) after Christophe Huet (Paris, died 1759, pupil of Oudry). Nos. 43-46 cavalry battles by Boitard after Adam Frans van der Meulen (Brussels died 1690); no. 47 horse by Dominique Sornique (c. 1707 - Paris 1756) after Antonio Tempesta (Florence 1555-1630 Rome), with ornaments around; no. 48 horseman by Faucran after Stefano della Bella (1610 - Florence - 1664), with ornaments around. Nos. 49-54 singeries by Filloeul after Christophe Huet. No. 55 title page by and after Boitard: 'Divers Sujets de la Chasses d'après Routard, Peintre Flamand, et autres. Gravées par les soins de M.L. Odieuvre 1742. Nos 56-63, 66, 69-72 hunting scenes by Boitard after Routar(d) and Boitard; nos. 64-65, 67-68 fables by Boitard after Routard". Provenance: Vente Destailleur 1895, no. 1224; Ex libris H. Gallice, with his bookplate; ex libris Marcel Jeanson, with his bookplate. The copy was exhibited at the Flegel exhibition see catalogue 'Georg Flegel 1566-1638 - Stilleben, Frankfurt am Main 1993 (ed. Kurt Wettengl), p. 205 no. 98 erronously dated 1650). Schwerdt II, p. 48 records 55-60 only.
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