Art

A set of six capriccio landscapes featuring allegorical tombs celebrating great men of recent English history. Each finely engraved plate features a ruined classical tomb rendered in superb architectural detail within an Italianate landscape. The landscapes were commissioned by Owen McSwiny in the 1720s and to complete the task he hired a team of Venetian and Bolognese artists, including Canaletto, Cimaroli, Creti and Ricci, to produce the series. The Duke of Richmond was an important patron of the enterprise, acquiring at least ten of the paintings, and in the 1730s a prospectus was issued inviting subscriptions from "the Ladies and Gentlemen of Taste of Great Britain" for a volume of engravings based on the paintings. The present plates are taken from this work, which was produced in Paris in 1741 drawn by Creti's pupil Domenico Maria Fratta and employing some of the finest French engravers of the period, including Tardieu, Beauvais, and Cochin. The collection was described by Cohen-De Ricci as "très rare." Within mounts c.630 x 400 mm. Copper engravings with etching. Light toning overall, but otherwise very good.