ROME CATACOMBES PETIT Savinien (1815 1878). - Lot 93

ROME CATACOMBES PETIT Savinien (1815 1878). Reunion of 13 original drawings on vellum, preparatory to the large lithographed album by Louis Perret, "Catacombs of Rome" (Paris, Gide et J. Baudry Éditeurs, 1851, 6 volumes). Plates executed notably for volumes I (pl. 34 bis, 60, 72, 74, 76, 77, 78, 80, 81 and 82) and IV (Pl. 22). The set includes 12 pencil drawings (some with stump), and 1 watercolor, India ink and wash on pencil line. Notable subject: "St. Helena. Longitudinal cut plan on the line AB of the cemetery of Saint Helena" (watercolor). Average sheet size: 60 x 45 cm (sheets). Condition B/C (foxing, soiling and traces of moisture). Set of 13 p. "For lack of being able to enter the competition for the Prix de Rome, Savinien Petit owed the opportunity to discover the Eternal City to a commission from the State. In 1845, a commission composed of Ampère, Ingres, Mérimée and Vitet solicited him for the survey of the catacombs intended to illustrate, in chromolithography, the work of Louis Perret, " Catacombs of Rome ", published in six volumes in 1851. Petit and Perret are thus in line with the first works begun by Antonio Bosio in the sixteenth century, continued in the nineteenth century by Séroux d'Agincourt, or Padre Marchi (...), and precede by a few years the publication of G.B. de Rossi (1822-1894), "Roma sotterranea cristiana" (1864-1877)." (Collective, "Savinien Petit: Le sentiment de la ligne, 1818-1878," exhibition catalog, Nancy, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nancy, June 16-Sept. 20, 2004, Paris, Artlys Editions, 2004, p.30.)