47 pp. Small 8vo (169 x 102 mm.), modern marbled boards, gilt title on spine. [Paris: 1747].

A scarce and early auction catalogue dispersing a substantial collection of paintings belonging to a “Baron de Banckheim,” possibly a fictitious provenance. We also do not know the expert in charge of this sale, but we do see that they borrowed heavily from the celebrated catalogues of the leading art dealer of the time, Edme François Gersaint (1694-1750). The foremost scholar on Gersaint, Guillaume Glorieux, writes that a number of catalogues of this period plagiarized the authoritative biographies of artists composed by Gersaint.

... More