Details
AUDRAN, Gérard (1640-1703). Les Proportions du corps humain mesurées sur les plus belles figures de l'antiquité. Paris: Girard Audran, 1683.
2o (399 x 250 mm). 30 engraved plates by Audran. (Title with short tear and corner repaired, some browning.) Modern morocco, spine gilt lettered; cloth folding case.
FIRST EDITION OF AN ANATOMY FOR ARTISTS BY GERARD AUDRAN, ONE OF THE MOST CELEBRATED FRENCH ENGRAVERS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. A member of the famous Audran dynasty of artists, and the third son of Claude Audran, Gerard was taught design and engraving by his father in Lyons, after which he moved to Paris to advance himself. There in 1666 he made engravings of paintings by Charles Le Brun, which gave the famous painter great satisfaction, and placed Audran in the very first rank of Parisian engravers. The next year Audrin traveled to Rome, where he resided three years, and engraved several fine plates. He is thought to have worked for or trained with Carlo Maratta during that interlude. Eventually the Jean Baptiste Colbert, Louis XIV's finance minister and a great patron of the arts, was so struck by the beauty of Audran's works that he persuaded Louis to recall Audran to Paris. On his return Audran was appointed engraver to the king, and admitted to the council of the Académie Royale. Two years later he wrote and published this classical work which was translated into German and English, and reprinted as late as the mid-nineteenth century. Choulant-Frank p. 359; Heirs of Hippocrates 635; Wellcome II p.69.
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FIRST EDITION OF AN ANATOMY FOR ARTISTS BY GERARD AUDRAN, ONE OF THE MOST CELEBRATED FRENCH ENGRAVERS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. A member of the famous Audran dynasty of artists, and the third son of Claude Audran, Gerard was taught design and engraving by his father in Lyons, after which he moved to Paris to advance himself. There in 1666 he made engravings of paintings by Charles Le Brun, which gave the famous painter great satisfaction, and placed Audran in the very first rank of Parisian engravers. The next year Audrin traveled to Rome, where he resided three years, and engraved several fine plates. He is thought to have worked for or trained with Carlo Maratta during that interlude. Eventually the Jean Baptiste Colbert, Louis XIV's finance minister and a great patron of the arts, was so struck by the beauty of Audran's works that he persuaded Louis to recall Audran to Paris. On his return Audran was appointed engraver to the king, and admitted to the council of the Académie Royale. Two years later he wrote and published this classical work which was translated into German and English, and reprinted as late as the mid-nineteenth century. Choulant-Frank p. 359; Heirs of Hippocrates 635; Wellcome II p.69.