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Displayed below
are
images and short descriptions of items selected from our stock of
printed and original garden plans, views, and unusual artifacts
relating to the history of gardens and horticulture. Further
details can be provided on request. These items are located in
our Paris office, unless indicated otherwise. Shipping costs are extra.
We prefer to offer items in their original
form and in the condition in which they were received, without framing
or decorative alterations. All siginficant repairs and restorations are
noted. We presume that it is the intention of our customers to preserve
historic documents, not to destroy or embellish them. For this reason
we do not sell "prints" that have been removed from published books,
or engravings originally issued to illustrate a printed text. Nor do
we add color to early engravings or purchase colored engravings from
sources that regularly do. All coloring, where present, is believed to
be contemporary with the period of publication. All purchases
will be sent on
approval and may be returned for any reason.
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(Pratolino) DELLA BELLA, Stephano. "View Of The Grotto Of
Pan And Fame."
Della Bella's evocative etching of the
grotto of Pan and Fame in the Renaissance Italian villa garden at
Pratolino. The impression is a double view, presenting opposite ends of
the grotto side by side. On opposite sides of the statue
representing the river Mugrone are seen Pan playing his flute and Fame
sounding her trumpet, both of them animated as hydraulic
automatons. This is one of six views by Della Bella which depict
this stunning Medici garden, created by the Florentine architect
Buontalenti. "In terms of hydraulic wonders, the fountains and grottoes
of Pratolino are surely the apogee...
Buontalenti emerges as the foremost inventor of grottoes in Italy."
(Miller HEAVENLY CAVES, pp. 47, 49). The first state, before the number
(of two). Vesme no. 841. Chone/Grivel. STEPHANO DELLA BELLA
1610-1664,
no. 42-4.
Impression measuring 25 x 37 cm; signed SD Bella
between the two views Excellnet condition, freshly mounted and
matted, overall dimensions 45 x 53 cm.
$1000
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