[Hancarville (Pierre-François-Hugues d')]. Set of 2 large in - Lot 5

[Hancarville (Pierre-François-Hugues d')]. Set of 2 large in-4 volumes in homogeneous bindings, tortoiseshell calf, spines with cloisonné and fleuronné nerves with dark green title-pieces, triple gilt fillet framing the boards with corner fleurons, decorated edges, inner gilt roulette, gilt edges; spines faded, tear to a jaw, edges a little rubbed (period binding). Original first editions. - Monumens de la vie privée des douze Césars, d'après une suite de pierres gravées sous leur règne. À Caprées, chez Sabellus, 1780. in-4, xii-196 pp. Edition with 11-line title and long "s" text, the only one "to be preferred" (Cohen / De Ricci, col. 475). Free copper-engraved illustrations hors texte: title-frontispiece, and 50 plates numbered 1 to 50. - Monumens du culte secret des dames romaines, pour servir de suite aux Monumens de la vie privée des XII Césars. Ibid. In-4, xxvii-(one blank)-98 pp; title dated 1780, with long "s" text and Latin quotations without translations. Free copper-engraved illustrations outside the text: title-frontispiece, and 50 plates numbered 1 to 50. With a few woodcuts in the text, including a free woodcut in the title. Baron d'Hancarville's erudite reinvention of erotic iconography through the prism of seventeenth-century libertinism maintains the fictional representation of genuine objets d'art such as cameos and medals in his Monuments. While preserving Greco-Latin aesthetic codes, he invents scenes and situations of refined anachronistic eroticism, accompanying them with erudite commentaries peppered with quotations. An Enlightenment art historian and dealer, Baron d'Hancarville (1719-1805) is best remembered for publishing the catalog of Greek vases belonging to William Hamilton, the English ambassador to Naples. This work established him as a pioneer in the system of classifying objects according to function, and in the diachronic approach to art history.