- Museum number
- 1919,1001.2.1-122
- Title
- Series: Opere varie incise da Benigno Bossi dall'anno MDCCLV sino all'anno MDCCLXXXIX
- Description
-
Collected edition of Benigno Bossi's plates, from the beginning of his career in 1755 until 1789; consisting of reprints made in 1789 on uniform paper of his series and of some individual plates. This is the second volume of two, in a modern binding applied by the BM, and consists of the following plates (the numbers are the sub-numbers applied in registration):
1-43. The series 'Raccolta di teste', invented and etched by Bossi, numbered from 1 to 43, consisting of the titleplate with two putti copying a suspended Roman head, followed by small plates of heads, some printed four to a sheet. The plate numbered 2 has a secondary title 'Prove d'aqua forte'. The prints individual have varied dates, from 1760 to 1784, and the plates vary in size.
44. A visiting card, with two figures on either side of a blank escutcheon
45. The Coronation of the Virgin, after a drawing by Parmigianino, 1773
46. The Virgin and Child, after a drawing by Parmigianino in the Mussi collection, 1784
47-47. Two heads after drawings by Guercino, 1773
48. The Presentation in the Temple, after a drawing by Carpioni, 1755
49. A mass of falling putti, after a drawing by Louis Felix de la Rue in the Baldrighi collection
50. The Annunciation after a fresco by Correggio, 1784
51-65. The series 'Fisonomie Possibili, parte prima', dated 1776, with caricatures of standard types of person, consisting of a titleplate and twelve numbered plates, plus a thirteenth unnumbered plate.
66-98. The series 'Miscelanea' [sic], consisting of small plates of varied size and subject, numbered from 1 to 33, and dated between 1768 and 1787, and with the title on the first plate with an lying male nude.
99. A cul-de-lampe with a head supporting a base for a stone vase
100. The Virgin holding the Christ child with heads of three angels, and the lettering 'Dies sanctificatus illuxit nobis'
101. A headpiece with an escutcheon flanked by acanthus scrolls and putti
102. A group of putti playing around a pedestal in a landscape, 1771
103-119. The series 'Prove d'acqua forte MDCCLV', consisting of 17 unnumbered plates of very small size, mostly of heads [it is possible that the last 3 plates do not belong to this series]
120-1. Two profile portraits of unidentified men, dated 1753 and 1755
122. 'Prospetto della Facciata di S. Pietro in Parma' after the design of Petitot, with a dedication to Guglielmo du Tillot by Petitot.
(unnumbered) Sheet with the engraved text of the 'Catalogo delle opere incise da Benigno Bossi', dated 179-, and with ten numbered entries.
Etchings, some with mezzotint and roulette, and some printed in coloured ink
- Production date
- 1755-1789
- Dimensions
-
Height: 430 millimetres
-
Width: 275 millimetres (sheet size)
- Curator's comments
- The final plate with Bossi's catalogue gives a listing and separate pricing of the plates in this and the previous album (163.b.39 and 40) and shows that the sets or individual prints were available separately. The varied sizes and dating also prove that many (though not all) of the sub-sets were made up at a later date from earlier elements.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1919
- Acquisition notes
- Formerly pressmark 1269.k.8, acquired by the Library on 21 January 1850
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1919,1001.2.1-122