“The Jacques-Louis David of the Print”–Oxford Art Online
Catalogue d’un Choix précieux d’Estampes de célèbres Graveurs anciens et modernes…Recueils, Livres sur les Arts, Planches gravées et Dessins: Après le décès de… Précédé d’une Notice historique sur feu M. Bervic: Par F. L. Regnault-Delalande. Cette Vente se fera le Mardi 9 Juillet et jours suivans…
1 p.l., xiii, [1], 40 pp. 8vo (200 x 128 mm.), cont. blue paper wrappers, stitched as issued & strengthened with clear tape. Paris: Delaplace-Gérardin & Regnault-Delalande, 1822.
The very scarce sale catalogue detailing the sizable and choice collection of a celebrated engraver. Bervic (1756-1822), best known for his skillful works after Callet, J. B. Regnault, Guido Reni, and Raphael, studied under Le Prince, as well as Wille, who considered him one of his most promising students. A clerical error is the reason for being given the name Balvay, instead of, correctly, Bervic. “Bervic was greatly respected and honoured in his own lifetime. Louis XVI accommodated him at the Louvre, he was a member of almost all of the Academies in Europe, and in 1819 was the first engraver to receive the Croix de la Légion d’Honneur…He is probably the greatest and most famous burin reproduction engraver of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.”–Oxford Art Online.
This catalogue begins with a lengthy and erudite biographical sketch of Bervic composed by the sale’s expert, Regnault-Delalande (1762-1824), who administered more than 300 auctions and was a scholar of the history of engraving. This catalogue describes 211 lots. Bervic’s collection was comprehensive and included prints by Audran, Bartolozzi, Bervic, Boissieu, Callot, Caron, Choffard, Coiny, Desnoyers, Edelinck, Porporati, Potrelle, A. de Saint-Aubin, W. Sharp, Tardieu, C. Visscher, Wille, Woollett, etc. There are also print suites and books by Algarotti, Basan, Piranesi, Durand, Bartolo, Peyre, Salvage, Winckelmann, etc. Lots 204 and 205 are engraved plates executed by Bervic after Guido Reni’s The Rape of Deianira, Regnault’s The Education of Achilles, and Callet’s portrait of Louis XVI.
A fine copy in original state. With the printed price-list laid-in. From the Bibliothèque Heim. This copy is addressed on the upper wrapper to “Mr L’Abbé Baronnat / rue de Vaugirard no. 38.”
❧ Lugt 10296. Oxford Art Online.
Price: $1,750.00
Item ID: 7115
