([AUCTION CATALOGUE: BILLAUDEL, Alphonse Charles]).

Catalogue de Tableaux précieux des Ecoles Italienne, Espagnole, Hollandaise et Flamande; Marbres, Bronzes, Pendules, et autres Objets de curiosité. La Vente s’en fera…le 31 mars [corrected in cont. ms.]: “1er et 2” avril…[Expert H. Delaroche].

Three engraved plates. viii, 53 pp., [3] pages of schedule of sale. 8vo (201 x 125 mm.), gray modern cloth-backed marbled boards, title on spine. Paris: Delaroche, Billaudel & Balbastre, 1813.

A scarce example of an illustrated sale catalogue from the period, it contains three nicely engraved plates of works by Murillo, de Morales, and Rubens (most copies lack the plates). Lugt erroneously records the seller as “Billaudet.” The RKD copy has an inscription on the title-page linking the contents of the sale to Billaudel, whose name, curiously, is also found in the imprint. Billaudel concurrently operated as a dealer and painter, and it seems that he used this sale to sell off some of his stock and consignments.

The catalogue describes 110 lots of paintings, drawings, sculptures, furniture, and curiosities. It includes works by N. Berghem, C. Dusart, Flinck, C. Poelenburgh, A. Pynacker, Rubens, J. Ruysdael, Rottenhamer, Veronese, C. Vernet, etc., etc. The majority of the lots are thoroughly described, providing measurements and technical notes. The de Morales is a painting of Christ, and the description compares the painter’s abilities to those of da Vinci and Correggio. The bound-in engravings were done by Jacques Noël Marie Frémy (1782-1867), a pupil of J. B. Regnault and David.

A nice copy with some minor dampstaining to the outer margins, the gutter, and touching the plates. With the rare three-page schedule of sale bound-in at the end. Ink ownership inscription of Marcel Nicolle (1871-1934), curator at the Louvre and critic, on the title-page, and stamp of the Bibliothèque Heim on verso of title.

❧ Lugt 8335. Benezit Dictionary of Artists, Vol. 5, p. 1064.

Price: $950.00

Item ID: 7483