JESUITISM. FLEMISH ENGRAVERS. ORAISON. NATALIS (Hieronym) or - Lot 126

JESUITISM. FLEMISH ENGRAVERS. ORAISON. NATALIS (Hieronym) or NADAL, Jerome. Adnotationes et meditationes in evangelia quae in sacrosanto missae sacrificio toto anno leguntur... Antuerpiae, excudebat Martinus Nutius, 1594-1595. [bound with]. Evangelicae historiae imagines, ex ordine euangeliorum, quae toto anno in missae sacrificio recitantur, in ordinem temporis vitae Christi digestae. Antverpiae (Antwerp), 1593. 1 volume in-folio (ca 33 x 22 cm), [5] ff. (including engraved title), 152 black etchings (of 153); [3] ff. (including engraved title), 595-[5] pp. (Sign. [†] 3 , A-Z6, Aa-Zz6, AA-DD6). Seventeenth-century red morocco, smooth spine decorated with gilt fleurons alternating with double gilt fillets, double gilt fillet framing the boards, oblong floral wreath in the center, gilt edges.Rare suite with sumptuous engravings printed on very fine laid paper for this princeps, highlighting the impressions and the work. Magnificent first edition of Les Evangiles de Natalis with its engraved intaglio suite. "One of the most beautiful series of engravings of the Flemish 16th century", according to Pierre Berès. "The crowd effects, the depths of the fields, the profusion of details, significant without detracting from the overall effect, the lighting - everything contributes to making these engravings masterpieces". Indeed, these images were one of the first pictorial testimonies to the introduction of perspective in engraving, as in the frescoes of Jesuit churches. Famous for its beauty, the Gospel was illustrated by the Flemish engravers Wierix, Hieronymus and Antom, with commentary by the Spanish Jesuit Jerome Nadal or Natalis (1507-1580), generally considered the author. He was the initiator, commissioned by Ignatius of Loyola to guide novices in their meditation by explaining the daily practice of prayer and contemplation. Although he died a few years before publication, he remained the coordinator and author of the theological and aesthetic guidelines. The illustration consists of a black-engraved title page, dated 1593, with Christ in glory, followed by 152 superb deep-black burin plates, signed in the image (for this first edition) by Hieronymus Wierix, Anton II Wierix, Johannes Wierix, Adriaen Collaert and others, after drawings by the Italian Bernardino Passeri for most and Maarten de Vos for some. Each figure is framed and after the letter, the captions mention the scene and explanatory annotations, notably on the locations, which Loyola mentions as the "composition of the place" in the Spiritual Exercises. The 3rd plate illustrating the birth of Christ (the work includes 2 Nativities) is lacking. Preceded by the first edition of Nadal's Adnotationes..., which are notes and meditations on the Gospels. "Beauté des épreuves", Backer and Sommervogel, Bibliothèque de la Cie de Jesus, II, 1482 and V, 1518). Brunet, IV, 18. spine slightly faded, minor rubbing to spines and edges, restored tear on pl. 60 and 120; small loss to corner of pl. 19, but a fine copy.