Profil de la Ville de Florance

At bottom, out of frame, title PROFIL DE LA VILLE DE FLORANCE.

Etching and engraving, circa 1660, lacking editorial indications. In the lower right corner, indication of privilege: avec privilege du Roy.

The view is taken from the south, southwest, an unusual point of view, facing a stretch of wall where no door opens. Palazzo Pitti is in full view and behind it the fort of Belvedere. The river is swallowed up by the urban fabric and on the other side emerge the piers of Palazzo Vecchio, the Duomo and the dome of S. Lorenzo.

The attribution to Louis Meunier is due to Pierre Mariette, a Parisian merchant of prints, according to whom the image was drawn and engraved under the direction of Israel Silvestre.

Louis Meunier or Meusnier (c. 1630 - c. 1680) was a Flemish or French painter, illustrator and chalcographic engraver, who worked in Paris, Lisbon, Madrid and Belgium during the second third of the seventeenth century. Pupil of Israel Silvestre, was his greatest collaborator. The graphic style is reminiscent of that of the most famous master, and the main activity was that of “vedutista”. One of the most interesting aspects of the work developed by Meunier in the Madrid of Felipe II, as a graphic chronicler, are his views of the city around 1660, the oldest preserved today (in engraving technique) and the only ones that give an idea of the appearance of the then young capital of Spain, and before the reforms undertaken by the Bourbons in the 18th century, in which Meunier's drawings were repeatedly reproduced and imitated. He also produced a large group of panoramic views of the main cities of Spain - in the style of this view of Florence - whose attribution must take into account the editorial contribution of Israël Silvestre.

Magnificent proof, rich in tone, printed on contemporary laid paper, with margins above and below, trimmed at the sides (album sheet), in excellent condition. Very rare work.

Literature 

Faucheux, L.-É.: Catalogue raisonné de toutes les estampes qui forment l'œuvre d'Israel Silvestre: précédé d'une notice sur sa vie. Bonaventure et Ducessois, París (1857), p. 86.