Theil I: Bildsaulen und Wasserspiele des Kais. Königl. Gartens Schönbrunn. Theil II: T. Modelle zu den Bildsaulen und Wasserspielen &c
Beyer, W[ilhelm]
Vienna. Trattner. 1779
Sold
A large copy of Beyer's rare work on the statuary of Schönbrunn Palace.
The architect, sculptor, painter, garden designer and landscapist Wilhelm Beyer (1725 - 1806) is remembered chiefly for his work on the gardens and the introduction of the statuary to the Great Parterre of Schönbrunn Palace. Beyer's patroness Maria Theresa had commissioned Beyer, who had studied architecture, sculpture and painting, in Paris and Rome, to provide a series of large sculptures for the decoration of Schönbrunn's gardens in 1773. The discovery of a source of very good marble (almost the equivalent of that of Ferrara) near Sterzing made the commission possible and between 1773 and 1780 Beyer oversaw the production of a number of sculptures and fountains. It is these sculptures and fountains - all produced anonymously as per Beyer's wishes - that are depicted here. The sculptures portray classical archetypes (tritons, sphinx, nereids and so on) as well as important figures from classical history and mythology, singly and in group compositions; thus we have Cincinnatus and Hannibal, as well as Perseus, Eurydice, Paris and Helen, Dionysus and Ceres and so on.
Joseph Neeld (1784 - 1856) of Grittelton Manor in Wiltshire was a bibliophile, art collector, philanthropist, amateur botanist and the MP for Chippenham (1830 - 1856).
Beyer's work is rare, with a single copy (the present) appearing at auction in the last 35 years; COPAC lists a single copy in the UK, at the National Art Library, London; WorldCat adds a further 5 copies: four in North American institutions (one at the Centre Canadien d'Architecture) and one in Sweden; KVK adds no further copies.
[Not in Berlin; not in Cicognara; not in Weinreb].
The architect, sculptor, painter, garden designer and landscapist Wilhelm Beyer (1725 - 1806) is remembered chiefly for his work on the gardens and the introduction of the statuary to the Great Parterre of Schönbrunn Palace. Beyer's patroness Maria Theresa had commissioned Beyer, who had studied architecture, sculpture and painting, in Paris and Rome, to provide a series of large sculptures for the decoration of Schönbrunn's gardens in 1773. The discovery of a source of very good marble (almost the equivalent of that of Ferrara) near Sterzing made the commission possible and between 1773 and 1780 Beyer oversaw the production of a number of sculptures and fountains. It is these sculptures and fountains - all produced anonymously as per Beyer's wishes - that are depicted here. The sculptures portray classical archetypes (tritons, sphinx, nereids and so on) as well as important figures from classical history and mythology, singly and in group compositions; thus we have Cincinnatus and Hannibal, as well as Perseus, Eurydice, Paris and Helen, Dionysus and Ceres and so on.
Joseph Neeld (1784 - 1856) of Grittelton Manor in Wiltshire was a bibliophile, art collector, philanthropist, amateur botanist and the MP for Chippenham (1830 - 1856).
Beyer's work is rare, with a single copy (the present) appearing at auction in the last 35 years; COPAC lists a single copy in the UK, at the National Art Library, London; WorldCat adds a further 5 copies: four in North American institutions (one at the Centre Canadien d'Architecture) and one in Sweden; KVK adds no further copies.
[Not in Berlin; not in Cicognara; not in Weinreb].
2 parts in 1. Large folio. (608 x 418 mm). Engraved frontispiece, half-title, printed title with large engraved vignette, dedication leaf with privilege verso, leaf with introductory text and large engraved head-piece, engraved titles for each part, part I with 25 plates on 24 sheets (plates numbered I - XXII with two plates numbered XV anfd plate XIX bound after XXI), part II with 22 plates on 20 sheets (plates numbered I - XVIII, final two plates unnumbered), two folding leaves at end of volume with description and list of plates printed recto only. Majority of plates printed without signature, one plate with printed title, signatures where present of the engravers, Glassbach, Mansfeld, de Reinsperger, Schlotterbeck and Leybold. Frontispiece cut down to margin and mounted opposite half-title. Contemporary mottled calf, boards with tooled gilt surrounds, banded spine with red morocco title label and gilt tooled decoration in nine compartments, cream endpapers, all edges red.
#40820
