Bernard Picart (1673-1733)

[Antique print, etching and engraving, 1733] Cygnus changé en cigne… (Cygnus transformed to a swan…), published 1733, 1 p.

Name: [Antique print, etching and engraving, 1733] Cygnus changé en cigne... (Cygnus transformed to a swan...), published 1733, 1 p.
SKU: 59679
Availability: InStock

From the ‘Tafereel of beschryving van den prachtigen tempel der zang-godinnen…’, also known as ‘Le Temple des Muses’ published in Amsterdam in 1733, containing histories drawn from Greek mythology, written by A.de la Barre de Beaumarchais with plates by Bernard Picart. The plates are all finely engraved and are composed with a central part dedicated to the illustration of the story and a larger one, framing the previous, inhabited with details inspired to the central plate. For the whole book see Booknr. 50936 [IX, p. 23-24]

Phaeton died for having ridden the chariot of the sun, usually driven by his father Helios. His sisters, the Heliades, were crying for his death for days and they were turned into poplars and their tears into amber. Phaeton’s friend Cygnus was also desperately looking for the body of his dead friend that had felt into the Eridanos river. The gods turned him into a swan for this. Lettered in four languages on the bottom: ‘CYGNUS CHANGÉ EN CIGNE, & LES SOEURS DE / PHAETON EN PEUPLIERS. / Cygnus transformed to a Swan, and Phaeton’s / sisters into Poplars. // Cygnus in einem Schwaan, undt die Schwestern des / Phaeton in Pappeln verändert. / Cygnus in een Swaan, en de Susters van Phaeton / in Popelier-bommen verandert’. On the bottom of the engraved frame on the left: ‘B. Picart del. 1731.’

SKU: 59679

Engraving on fine laid paper; internal platemark: 250 x 177 mm; external plate: 353 x 255 mm; total: 488 x 305 mm. Small damage on the right, close to the figure of Cygnus. PLIT013

€ 242,00 (€ 200,00 ex. btw)

In stock