Imitations of Original Drawings by Hans Holbein in the Collection of His Majesty, for the Portraits of Illustrious Persons of the Court of Henry VIII. With Biographical Tracts.

HOLBEIN, Hans.

Edité par London: W. Bulmer and Co., Shakespeare Printing-Office, 1792-1800

A propos de cet article

First edition of this superlative folio, about which the leading authorities are in full agreement: "in every way a splendid book" (Abbey) and "this magnificent work is surely the finest early example of English colour printing" (Ray). This is a most handsome copy in contemporary red morocco. "During his second stay in England (1532-43), Hans Holbein made a series of drawings of sitters connected with the court of Henry VIII that ranks among his finest achievements. Most of these were discovered as a group pasted into an album in a bureau at Kensington Palace by Queen Caroline in 1728, and the majority are now in the Royal Collection, Windsor" (Oliver et al, p. 168). The album had a chequered history, passing through several royal and noble hands - Charles I swapped it for a single painting by Raphael - before finding its way into the celebrated collection of Thomas Howard, 14th earl of Arundel, who "amassed what stands as the first major British art collection" (British Library). It then returned to royal ownership, a reunion that was recorded in Alexander Browne's Ars Pictoria (1675): "this book has been long a Wanderer, but is now most happily fallen into the King's Collection". It then lay undisturbed until Queen Caroline's discovery. Solicitous of artworks in the royal collections, she had them removed from their binding, individually framed, and hung in her country residence of Richmond Lodge. A native of Florence, Francesco Bartolozzi (1728-1815) had by the early 1760s established himself as one of the finest engravers in Italy. An invitation to London in 1764 led to his employment to make prints after drawings by Guercino which entered the Royal Collection. He became engraver to the king and was a founder member of the Royal Academy. His imprimatur on an engraving was in high demand and he established "a vogue for dotted prints or 'stipples', and this became his characteristic manner" (ODNB). Extensive work for many of the leading London print-sellers followed, for which he employed a large studio to cope with commissions. This led to accusations of shoddy workmanship, about which Bartolozzi was very sensitive; and yet he continued to attract high-level commissions such as the present work, the admirable presswork for which was by the best London printer of the day, William Bulmer. It was published under the auspices of the antiquary John Chamberlaine, Keeper of George III's drawings, with biographical notices provided by Edmund Lodge. Dr Lucy Peltz, Head of Collection Displays (Tudor to Regency) at the National Portrait Gallery, notes a contemporary "patriotic fashion for collecting engraved portraits of illustrious figures" (ODNB entry for Edmund Lodge). "Published in parts during the years 1792 to 1800. the book evidently had a very considerable success, for the plates appear in several states" (Abbey). The present copy includes hand-coloured plates on white paper, pink paper, and trimmed pink paper mounted to white sheets with a double-border in wash. The sitters include Anne Boleyn, Edward VI, Sir Thomas Eliot, Catherine Howard, Sir Thomas More, Jane Seymour, Henry Howard, earl of Surrey, and Sir Thomas Wyatt. Abbey, Life, 205 (the plates accord with Abbey's states 2, 3, and, although not examined by him, possibly 5); Lowndes I p. 405; Ray, The Illustrator and the Book in England from 1790 to 1914, 1991, 19. Lois Oliver et al, "New evidence towards an attribution to Holbein of a drawing in the Victoria and Albert Museum", The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 148, No. 1236, March 2006. Folio (543 x 400 mm). With 84 colour-printed stipple engravings on 83 sheets, all but four by Francesco Bartolozzi after Holbein, on white or pink paper, some on pink paper mounted on card. Contemporary red straight-grain morocco gilt, spine with seven pairs of raised bands, gilt lettered direct in second compartment and at foot, each compartment filled with decorative blind tooling, sides with intersecting gilt frames enclosing blind panel.

N° de réf. du vendeur 160199

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Imitations of Original Drawings by Hans Holbein in the Collection of His Majesty, for the Portraits of Illustrious Persons of the Court of Henry VIII. With Biographical Tracts.
• Éditeur: London: W. Bulmer and Co., Shakespeare Printing-Office, 1792-1800
• Édition: Edition originale