Bernard Picart, Nude Tithon from Le Temple des Muses, 18th Century, Etching

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Black and white etching on wire rod paper, representing the Greek myth of Tithonus. Beautiful plate with very fresh impression, … Read more Black and white etching on wire rod paper, representing the Greek myth of Tithonus. Beautiful plate with very fresh impression, from the volume “Le Temple des Muses”, published in Amsterdam in 1742 by Zacharias Chatelain. Capture (under the image) and author inscribed: "B. Picart del." under the frame engraved, on the lower-left margin. In very good conditions, except for a usual light yellowing of the margins and some light vertical folds on the right margin in correspondence of the binding, some light foxing on the margins, and a little rip on the higher-right margin. Overall the engraved image is in perfect conditions. Le Temple des Muses was an illustrated book of Ovid's more popular fables and other Greek myths published in 1733 in Dutch (Tempel der Zanggodinnen), in 1738 in English, and in 1742 in French by Zacharias Chatelain. The engravings had captions in four languages: French, English, German, and Dutch. The wonderful sixty plates engraved by Bernard Picart were a sort of fashionable mythological compendium, useful in the eighteenth century, when the fascination with Greek and Roman antiquity followed the systematic excavation of the ruins at Pompeii and Herculaneum in southern Italy; and after 1750 a neoclassical style dominated all artistic fields. This piece is attributed to the mentioned designer/maker. It has no attribution mark and no
official proof of authenticity,
however it is well documented in design history. I take full responsibility for any authenticity



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