Bonaventura van Overbeke | Stampe degli avanzi dell’ antica Roma opra. London, 1739, fine views of Roman architecture - photo 1
Bonaventura van Overbeke | Stampe degli avanzi dell’ antica Roma opra. London, 1739, fine views of Roman architecture - photo 2
Bonaventura van Overbeke | Stampe degli avanzi dell’ antica Roma opra. London, 1739, fine views of Roman architecture - photo 3

Bonaventura van Overbeke | Stampe degli avanzi dell’ antica Roma opra. London, 1739, fine views of Roman architecture

Lot 62
28.11.2023 14:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
£ 5 000
AuctioneerSotheby´s
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 1076585
Lot 62 | Bonaventura van Overbeke | Stampe degli avanzi dell’ antica Roma opra. London, 1739, fine views of Roman architecture
Estimate value
£ 5 000 – 7 000
Bonaventura van Overbeke

Stampe degli avanzi dell’ antica Roma opra. London: [Edlin], 1739

2 volumes, text, 8vo (232 x 143mm.) and plates, folio (527 x 390mm.), text volume with frontispiece portrait of the author and 33 engraved plates showing coins or medallions; plate volume with engraved title vignette, engraved portrait of Queen Elisabetta of Spain, folding map, and 148 PLATES OF ROMAN RUINS AFTER OVERBEKE retouched by Jacopo Amigoni (or Amiconi), including one double-page of the Colosseum,

text bound in contemporary sprinkled calf, raised bands, maroon morocco label; plate volume bound in nineteenth-century mottled calf, covers with gilt arms of Henry Fiennes Pelham-Clinton, 2nd Duke of Newcastle at centre, raised bands, spine compartments with gilt tooling, text volume with a couple of dark spots and a minor scratch to boards, without index of plates, text rebacked retaining most of original backstrip, a couple of dark spots and a minor scratch to boards, plate volume spine rubbed

A rare complete set of the Italian translation of Reliquiae antiquae urbis Romae, the splendid—and seldom seen—plate volume in extraordinarily fresh condition and with noble provenance.

An artist of the Dutch Golden Age, Bonaventure van Overbeke (or Overbeek, 1660-1705) visited Rome several times between 1680 and 1700, sketching picturesque views of the ancient ruins. After returning to Amsterdam, he spent his final years processing the drawings into engravings, which were published posthumously by his relative, Michele van Overbeke; the first edition (in Latin) appeared in 1708. The plates were refreshed for this edition by Italian painter and engraver Jacopo Amigoni (1675-1752), who Benezit notes “had enjoyed great renown”. The present suite of engravings documents classical Roman architecture as it appeared in the 17th century—before the onslaught of tourists on the Grand Tour—and they are to be appreciated for foreshadowing the artistic approach that would be perfected by Piranesi. The text volume for the Italian edition, translated by Paolo Rolli, is rarely found with the plates (this is obviously a married set). The plate volume offered here was once owned by the man King George II proclaimed “the handsomest man in England”: Henry Fiennes Pelham-Clinton, 9th Earl of Lincoln and 2nd Duke of Newcastle, a member of the House of Lords who, according to ODNB, “preferred the pleasures of sport and the country to a life of politics”.
Auction house category:Prints, graphics, books
Address of auction Sotheby´s
34-35 New Bond Street
W1A 2AA London
United Kingdom
Preview
28.11.2023
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