Lot 8
Engravings - Chéron, Louis
Rare Books, Maps & Manuscripts
Auction: 7 September 2011 at 12:00 BST
Description
Viro praeclarissimo Richardo Mead M.D omnium atrium cultori et fautori hasce tabulas a vivis corporibus ab L. Chéron in academia depictas, nunc aere incises ... Ger. VanderGucht. [s.l., London, n.d., c. 1730?]. Folio, engraved titlepage and 6 engraved plates (28 x 21.5 cm), of characters from Virgil, Horace and Ovid, contemporary red calf, with a central lozenge within gilt borders and corner ornaments, spine decorated gilt in compartments, spine, corners and edges rubbed
Footnote
Note: Louis Chéron (1660-1725) , as well as being a painter and illustrator, was also an important drawing teacher. He taught, first at the private school established in 1711 by Sir Godfrey Kneller and then, when Kneller's academy split into two groups in 1718, at the St Martin's Lane Academy. At this later academy particular emphasis was placed on life drawing as exemplified in the present engravings. The publication of such prints by painters was intended "to increase the circle of their patronage, to add value to their product, to win widespread acclaim and to preserve their reputation for posterity" (Clayton The English print 1688-1802 p. 58). The physician Richard Mead (1673-1754), to whom the present work is dedicated, was as well known to his contemporaries as a patron and collector as he was a physician. His patronage would have been viewed as important both to encourage custom as well as the being the owner of paintings and other objects which themselves could be the subjects of further engravings. Gerard Vandergucht (c. 1698-1777) also engraved Chéron's Acts of the apostles and his Labours of Hercules (1732). Vandergucht had been taught drawing by Chéron at the Kneller's Academy.