Beautiful framed antique Shells print. Gualtieri Conchology 46, c1748.
$1,250.00
Mollusc Shells antique print, engraved by Pietro Antonio Pazzi after Giuseppe Menabuoni for Index Testarum Conchyliorum quae adservantur in Museo Niccoli Gualtieri (List of Shells in the Museum of Nicolai Gualtieri) by Niccolo Gualtieri, printed by Caietani Albizzini, in Florence, Italy circa 1748. Groups of different families of marine life, were illustrated, arranged in rows against a white background, with some shells standing on end and casting small shadows. The 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 a professor at the University of Pisa and physician to Cosimo III, Grand Duke of Tuscany. The Duke was a keen collector of shells also. Gualtieri's main passion was conchology, his collection of molluscs (now on display in the Museo Storia Naturale in Pisa), and the system Gualtieri devised for classification, were commended by eminent zoologists, including Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Carl Linnaeus. In 1716 Gualtieri co-founded the first European botanical society, the Botanical Society of Florence.
Page size is 455 x 320mm (17.7/8 x 12.5/8 inches). Approximate measurements of plate mark: 370 x 240mm (14.1/2 x 9.1/2 inches). This item is in good condition. (Flash is from camera on glass as this engraving is currently framed.)
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