Catalogue raisonné du Cabinet d'Estampes de feu Monsieur Winckler...contenant une Collection des Pièces anciennes et modernes de Toutes les Écoles, dans une Suite d'Artistes depuis l'Origine de l'Art de Graver jusqu'à nos jours

Par Michel Huber [& continued by Jean Gottlob Stimmel from the 4th vol.]. Five vols. bound in seven. 8vo, not quite uniform cont. marbled boards (a little worn & rubbed, occasional foxing), pale blue lettering pieces on spines. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Hartel, [1802]-03-05-10-10. The main series of auction catalogues of the most important collection of art formed in Leipzig in the 18th century. Winckler (1731-95), was a wealthy merchant and banker. Following his formal education, he made a European tour in Britain, Holland, and Switzerland and became intensely interested in art. Winckler started collecting prints and soon began buying paintings and drawings; in 1768 he issued a catalogue of his holdings. But he continued to acquire and by the time of his death, Winckler's collection had more than 1300 paintings (including important examples by Dürer, Holbein, Titian, and Rembrandt), nearly 2500 drawings, more than 80,000 prints, and a library of 6842 volumes. His sons inherited equal shares of the collections and began auctioning them in the present series of sales, which contain more than 23,000 lots including many printed books. The first volume describes the German; Vol. II, the Italian; Vol. III, the Low Countries; Vol. IV, French; and Vol. V, the English prints This set has been priced throughout in a contemporary hand. Huber and Stimmel have provided short biographical sketches of most of the artists. There were two later small sales of drawings (1815) and paintings (1819). A very nice set from the library of His Serene Highness Prince Fürstenberg at Donaueschingen with his stamp on all but the final title. Stamp of "J v Sz" on titles. ❧ Loh, Vol. 5, p. 117. Lugt 6447 (erroneously, I think, calling for a port.), 6696, 7002, & 7870.