BLONDEL, Jacques-François. - Lot 14

BLONDEL, Jacques-François. On the Layout of Country Houses and the Decoration of Buildings in General. Paris: Charles-Antoine Jombert, 1737–1738. 2 volumes, large quarto, (4) folios including frontispiece and title page, XVI-198 pp., 44 plates, and VII-(1)-180 pp., 116 plates, titles in red and black, text framed. Marbled and waxed fawn sheepskin of the period, decorated raised spine, gilded floral panels, title label and volume number in red and fawn morocco, gilded title, double blind-stamped fillet on the covers, red edges. (A few re-waxed leather patches, discreet restorations, some browning on a few leaves, a few scattered marginal stains). First edition. Dedication to Turgot with an engraved banner bearing his full coat of arms. A fine copy, with generous margins, of this exquisite engraved series of 150 large plates—including the intaglio frontispiece—drawn by the author and partly engraved by him, some of which are fold-out plates. Includes the allegorical frontispiece after Cochin. Headpieces and initial letters engraved by Cochin. Albums depicting facades, cross-sections, and perspectives of buildings; French gardens, fountains, fireplaces, colonnades, and woodwork, as well as numerous ornamental details. The nephew of the architect Blondel, Jacques-François Blondel (1705–1774), one of the great theorists of the art of building in the 18th century, ran a school of architecture in Paris and contributed to *L’Encyclopédie*. He is also known for works such as the plan for the beautification of Metz, projects for Strasbourg, and plans for the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in Moscow. His *Distribution des maisons de plaisance* was considered at the time to be the ideal French-style château under Louis XV and was popular among the elite, just as privacy and comfort were beginning, during the Enlightenment, to supplant the status and etiquette inherited from the Grand Siècle. DECORATIVE ARTS. BAL, I, 297. Berlin Cat., 2410.