Louis François Cassas and Joseph De Lavallée
Voyage pittoresque et historique de l’Istrie et de la Dalmatie. Paris: Pierre Didot l’ainé, l’an X [1802]
FIRST EDITION, folio (524 x 340mm.), 3 engraved headpieces, double-page map showing the route of the voyage, and 69 ENGRAVED PLATES, comprising engraved pictorial title page, frontispiece, plates 1-60, 18 bis, 54 bis, 55 bis, and one unnumbered plate bound between plates 36 and 37 (3 plates double-page, 6 folding) recent period-style dark green morocco gilt in a Neoclassical design with Greek key design, spine gilt, one plate with old repaired tear, minor marginal dampstaining
Filled with views of the antiquities of the eastern Adriatic that helped spur the Neoclassical movement in architecture, this collection of engravings represents Cassas’ first major commission and the work that made his reputation.
According to the Victoria and Albert Museum Object Record for one of the original drawings on which the engravings are based, “Cassas’ style as an illustrator was admired in his lifetime as being true to life and lacking in personal emotion [and therefore] creating an ideal documentation… His drawings are credited as playing a major role in disseminating classical architecture around the world and as influencing the Neo-Classical architectural movement in the early nineteenth century”. The ruins and details of classical structures are only part of the interest here; there are also views of the ports of the Adriatic, seascapes, and natural wonders like the Kerka waterfall.
Cassas (1756-1827) had eclectic artistic training, studying with both Neoclassical and Rococo masters before completing his education in Italy. From there, he set off on the tour that produced this work, and established himself as one of the leading travel artists of the day. When he retired from his travels and settled in France in 1792, Cassas became the drawing master and later General Inspector at the famed Gobelins Tapestry Manufactory. He fled the French Revolution to take refuge at the imperial court of Russia, where he served as director of the Academy of Arts and Libraries, then ended his days in France, and was awarded the Legion of Honour by the king in 1821.
REFERENCES: Atabey 202; Blackmer 296; Cohen-de Ricci, p. 205; Weber 597
Louis François Cassas and Joseph De Lavallée
Voyage pittoresque et historique de l’Istrie et de la Dalmatie. Paris: Pierre Didot l’ainé, l’an X [1802]
FIRST EDITION, folio (524 x 340mm.), 3 engraved headpieces, double-page map showing the route of the voyage, and 69 ENGRAVED PLATES, comprising engraved pictorial title page, frontispiece, plates 1-60, 18 bis, 54 bis, 55 bis, and one unnumbered plate bound between plates 36 and 37 (3 plates double-page, 6 folding) recent period-style dark green morocco gilt in a Neoclassical design with Greek key design, spine gilt, one plate with old repaired tear, minor marginal dampstaining
Filled with views of the antiquities of the eastern Adriatic that helped spur the Neoclassical movement in architecture, this collection of engravings represents Cassas’ first major commission and the work that made his reputation.
According to the Victoria and Albert Museum Object Record for one of the original drawings on which the engravings are based, “Cassas’ style as an illustrator was admired in his lifetime as being true to life and lacking in personal emotion [and therefore] creating an ideal documentation… His drawings are credited as playing a major role in disseminating classical architecture around the world and as influencing the Neo-Classical architectural movement in the early nineteenth century”. The ruins and details of classical structures are only part of the interest here; there are also views of the ports of the Adriatic, seascapes, and natural wonders like the Kerka waterfall.
Cassas (1756-1827) had eclectic artistic training, studying with both Neoclassical and Rococo masters before completing his education in Italy. From there, he set off on the tour that produced this work, and established himself as one of the leading travel artists of the day. When he retired from his travels and settled in France in 1792, Cassas became the drawing master and later General Inspector at the famed Gobelins Tapestry Manufactory. He fled the French Revolution to take refuge at the imperial court of Russia, where he served as director of the Academy of Arts and Libraries, then ended his days in France, and was awarded the Legion of Honour by the king in 1821.
REFERENCES: Atabey 202; Blackmer 296; Cohen-de Ricci, p. 205; Weber 597
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