WATELET. The Art of Painting, poem. Avec des réflexions sur - Lot 43

WATELET. The Art of Painting, poem. Avec des réflexions sur les différentes parties de la peinture. Paris, Guérin et Delatour, 1760. In-4 maroq. rouge, spine ornate, large dent. and central motif in small irons, on the inside of the motif on the first plate is inscribed: "Madame Le Comte", interior dent, gilt tr. (Rel. anc.). Frontispiece, fleuron on title, 5 vignettes, 8 portrait-medallions, 6 culs-de-lampe and 2 figures, all designed by Pierre and Marguerite Lecomte, engraved by Watelet. A superb copy on large Hollande paper (Seymour de Ricci does not mention this edition on large paper) given by the author to his friend Marguerite Lecomte and bearing her name in the middle of the first plate, it contains a portrait of Watelet after Cochin that is found in only a few copies, and three fine portraits of Marguerite Lecomte, the charming "femme artiste" described by Watelet as "Meunière du Moulin-Joli", one engraved by Lempereur after Watelet, accompanied by verses by her lover, the other engraved by Watelet after Cochin, here in a very rare state of etching before the letter, the third, finally, of the front, engraved by Watelet after Desar Poussin, very rare. RICH AND FRESHLY BOUND IN DEROME, DECORATED WITH LARGE SMALL-IRON LACES.