Copper plate engraving from "Antiquités Etrusques, Grecques et Romaines : Tirées du Cabinet du M. William Hamilton, envoyé extraordinaire de. S.M. Britanique en cour de Naples", Francois Morelli, Naples: c. 1766-77 (1st Edition). Plate 53 shows the decoration of a vase with its chracteristic patterned border, delicately executed in black etched line and ground, with terracotta and white hand-coloring. Impression apprx 8-1/2: x 8-1/2", paper size apprx 18-1/4" x 14-3/4"
The engraving is from a series made after Greek and Roman terra cotta vases in the collection of Sir William Hamilton (1730-1806) , a prominent collector and enthusiast in the arts and sciences at the height of the Age of Enlightenment. Born to an aristocratic Scottish family, he assembled one of the world's finest collections of Greek and Roman antiquities as British Envoy Extraordinaire to the two Sicilies from 1764-1800. Most of the antiquities he collected came from excavations in Southern Italy and Sicily, and he later sold most of them to the British Museum. In 1766, he watched the excavation of the Trebbia Tomb, and decided to produce accurate drawings of the vases found there. The glories of his vase collection were recorded in color-plate folios, which served as souvenirs for the great libraries of Grand Tour travelers and patrons, and provided inspiration to decorative art designers in England, such as Josiah Wedgwood.
400/600 Sold $184.00
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