Beautiful Bivalve Shells antique print. Gualtieri 71 c1748.

$600.00

Hand-coloured original shells antique print of Bivalve Molluscs engraved by Pietro Antonio Pazzi after the drawing by Guiseppe Menabuoni for Index Testarum Conchyliorum quae adservantur in Museo Niccoli Gualtieri (List of Shells in the Museum of Nicolai Gualtieri) by Niccolo Gualtieri. Published in Florence c1748. Marine life were illustrated in family groups, artistically arranged against a clear background, with shells standing on end and casting shadows. Gualtieri shell illustrations combined scientific observation with aesthetic appreciation of the natural colors, textures, and shapes of the shells. 

The fine natural history engravers who contributed splendid copperplate engravings to illustrate specimens in Gualtieri's shell collection, were Italian painter, printmaker and Abbot, Pietro Antonio Pazzi (1706-1766), who studied with Cosimo Mogalli (1667-1730), Mogalli's daughter Teresa Mogalli (active artist from 1716 to 1760), and Bernardo Sansone Sgrilli (fl.1733-1755). Draughtsmen for these engravings were painter, draughtsman and engraver Giuseppe Menabuoni (1708-1745) and painter-engraver Giovanni Domenico Campiglia (1692-1768).  

Niccolo Gualtieri (1688-1744) was an Italian medical doctor and professor at the University of Pisa.  In 1716 Gualtieri co-founded the first European botanical society, the Botanical Society of Florence. His main passion was conchology, his collection of molluscs, and the system he devised for classification, were commended by eminent zoologists, including Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Carl Linnaeus.

This engraving has slight damage to the extremities of the page – which would be concealed by framing. Page size is 440 x 300mm (17.1/2 x 11.3/4 inches). Size to plate mark measures 37 x 24cm (14.5 x 9.5 inches)