A Tall, Untrimmed Copy of a Giant Folio Featuring Baroque Opulence As Seen in Prince Eugene's Viennese Palace, Garden, and Menagerie

RESIDENCES MEMORABLES DE L'INCOMPARABLE HEROS DE NOTRE SIÈCLE, OU REPRESENTATION EXACTE DES EDIFICES ET JARDINS DE . . . PRINCE EUGENE FRANÇOIS, DUC DE SAVOYE. [bound with] REPRESENTATION DES ANIMAUX DE LA MENAGERIE DE S.A.S. FRANÇOIS DE SAVOYE ET DE PIEMONT.

(ARCHITECTURE - 18TH CENTURY FRANCE). KLEINER, SALOMON.

(Augsburg: Heirs of Jeremie Wolff, 1731-1740; 1734). 350 x 525 mm. (13 3/4 x 20 3/4"). 11 engraved calligraphic title pages in French and German (10 in first work, one in second), one engraved dedication leaf at beginning of the first work. FIRST EDITIONS.

Pleasant 19th century marbled paper boards, recently rebacked and recornered in calf, flat spine with black morocco label, reinforced hinges, marbled endpapers, untrimmed edges. WITH 102 FINE ENGRAVED PLATES after Kleiner, 90 in the first work (nine folding) and 12 in the second. Text in French and German. Berlin Katalogue 2117; Lipperheide 686; Graesse IV, 28; Nissen ZBI 2212 (second work only). ◆The serviceable binding unworn, minor marginal foxing and finger-soiling, intermittent mild browning, but A WIDE-MARGINED COPY WITH PARTICULARLY RICH IMPRESSIONS OF THE PLATES.

This is a very tall copy of a magnificent set of engravings depicting a masterpiece of Baroque architecture: the Belvedere Palace and Gardens in Vienna, summer home of Prince Eugene of Savoy. The masterwork of architect Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt, Belvedere is displayed here in all its glory, featuring artist Salomon Kleiner's detailed engravings of the exterior and the garden, along with the many splendid rooms. The second work is an extremely charming view of the prince's menagerie, filled with exotic animals and plants. The plates, engraved after Kleiner's drawings by J. J. Graesmann, J. G. Thelott, J. A. Corvinus, J. B. Probst, J. A. Friedrich, and others, include plans, elevations, and cross-sections as well as details of architectural ornament and interior design. Born into a noble French family--and even rumored to be the illegitimate son of Louis XIV--Eugene (1663-1736) was thwarted in his military ambitions by the Sun King's disfavor. Consequently, he moved to Austria and offered his services to the Holy Roman Emperor. He became field marshal of the Austrian army, teacher of Frederick the Great, and, in the words of Britannica, "one of the seven great strategists of all time," as well as the only one "whose campaigns Napoleon considered worthy of study by posterity." The reward Eugene received for his military success enabled him to become a patron of Baroque architecture; the Belvedere, planned and constructed by the most distinguished architects, engineers, landscapers, and decorators, was the grandest of his residences, and a worthy rival to the Versailles palace of his nemesis Louis. Kleiner's scenes show the beautiful palace and grounds enlivened by fashionable figures of the sort Prince Eugene entertained at his many hunting parties. And the delightful menagerie established in 1617 comes to life in Kleiner's plates, depicting chatty parrots, stately elk, many exotic birds, mischievous apes, and a disdainful lion. Complete sets of these plates are uncommon--the last such set we could trace at auction sold in 2012--and they are especially scarce in the attractive, untrimmed condition seen here. (Lhi21056)

Price: $22,500.00