[Spain]. ESCOSURA (Patricio de la); VILLAMIL (Perez). España - Lot 47

[Spain]. ESCOSURA (Patricio de la); VILLAMIL (Perez). España artistica y monumental. Vistas y descripción de los sitios y monumentos mas notables de España. Paris, Albert Hauser, 1842-1844. 2 large volumes in-folio (of 3) of [4], 99 pp. pl. 48 pl. + [4], 91 pp. 48 pl.; contemporary plum half-chagrin - probably publisher's, spine with 4 ornate nerves, gilt title and tomaison, caissons decorated with gilt fillets, gilt title on upper cover (negligible rubbing, tears at corners; rare russeting on some text f.). First edition, published in issues, with juxtaposed French-Spanish text by Escosura. Set of the first two volumes (out of 3 issued), featuring 96 large, beautiful topographic lithographs on tinted backgrounds, produced under the direction of Perez Villamil, almost all drawn by him or after Becquer, Crespo, Cecilio Pirano or Carderera, and lithographed mostly by Bachelier and Bayot. These plates are part of a strong 19th-century trend that led Spanish painters to take an interest in the beauties and customs of their country. Perez Villamil (El Ferrol 1807 - 1854 Madrid), portraitist, painter of architecture and history, was painter to the Spanish court in 1840 and is considered the "master of Spanish romantic landscape" (Bénézit). His immense body of work includes some 8,000 paintings and 18,000 watercolors and sketches. Provenance: Eugène Aubry Vitet (1845-1930), man of letters, archivist-paleographer and confidant of the Count of Paris (engraved armorial bookplate). (Brunet II, 1057; Bénézit VIII, 220).