MIGUEL DE CERVANTES (1547-1616), CHARLES-ANTOINE COYPEL (1694-1752), BERNARD PICART (1673-1733)

Les principales avantures de l’admirable Don Quichotte, représentées en figures par Coypel, Picart Le Romain et autres habiles maitres: avec les explications des XXXI planches de cette magnifique collection, tirées de l’original espagnol de Miguel De Cervantes. A la Haye, Chés Pierre de Hondt, 1746

§ Large 4°, VIII+330+2 pp, , nice modern blue Morocco, title page printed in red & black, profusely illustrated with 31 gorgeous full page engravings, a fine and crisp copy.

First edition , first impression, of this beautifully illustrated work, with early impressions of the engravings. Charles-Antoine Coypel, painter and playwriter, was chief painter of Philippe II, duc d’Orléans and director of the Royal Academy; an excellent tapestry designer, he worked for the Gobelins manufactory where the tapestries created from a series illustrating Don Quixote are considered his masterpiece. From Coypel’s drawings were later engraved (mainly by the engraver and book illustrator Bernard Picart) the plates for the present edition.
Ref: Ingersoll-Smouse Charles-Antoine Coypel In: La Revue de l'art ancien et moderne 1920, n. 37, pp. 143-154 and 285-292.