Anon

1830 · Best.-Nr. 004643 — 1830. Full Straight-Grained Morocco. Very Good. An exquisite manuscript copy of plates from the 1644 work by Wencelaus Hollar. While a copy the pen-and-ink work here is absolutely exceptional requiring a loupe or magnifying glass to fully appreciate the niceties of detailing achieved by the artist copier. It is also clear that this copier did not merely trace the original work. Heightening the pen-and-ink work are touches of watercolor. 8vo. 173 by 117 mm. Unpaginated half-title page with a handwritten copy of the verse from "The Merchant of Venice entitled "The Folly of Fashion the Deceit of Ornament or Appearance" second title copied from the 1644 work followed by 36 mounted pen and ink copies of fashion etchings from the 1644 work and a final page with a drawing of a trophy and two musings written out. The drawings besides being meticulous with near-microscopic detail are austere with the pen and ink work heightened with only touches of flesh color for the women's faces and tiny dabs of gold for jewelry buttons and the like. The austerity we would stress is befitting the fashions represented as the early and mid-17th century was a time that garments tended to be more monochromatic and sober meant to suggest piety as any student of portraits from this era coincident with the Puritan Revolution and religious wars on the continent would have absorbed. And we would add the austerity is not just of the dress but also the expression on the women depicted here. The flesh color applied to the faces and also hands is just as nuanced as everything else about these portraits. There is a gradient of coloration capturing very realistically the actual pigment of human flesh. The one exception to the limited color usage is a depiction of a woman from Virginia a Native American whose bare garment is painted red and who is wearing jewelry that is captured with bolder applications of gold. This exotic specimen also shows a woman with a tattoo on her arms something that was completely alien from European cultures at the time. The Virginian is not the only non-European depicted however as there is a woman from Algiers a Moresco woman an Argentinian. Also shown is a Turkish woman and the dress shown is from different strata of the societies represented. Short cursive handwritten captions identify for us where the model is from. All the handwriting including on the title the poem etc. is rendered in a tight minute script. Unfortunately there is no indication who the artist copyist was other than the initials PC by several of the drawings. In the front there is an ownership inscription of an Elizabeth Cobbett. There is a watercolored bookplate with the Hillman family crest. unknown books