Fine clear impressions of these great rarities.

Impressions include (Robert-Dumesnil numbers)

237 – Roman soldiers before a prince seated on a throne

238 – Cincinnatus with Romans

239 – Women and a soldier hurry to help a young girl who has fainted in their arms.

240 – A man in a turban fights “un basilic”

241 – La jeune Atys

242 – An angry prince raises a young man in the air to throw him in the water

243 – Diane and nymphs

244 – Warrier climbs a rock full of beasts, perhaps Aeneas finding the road to Hell

245 – 2 women in a temple consecrated to Diana of the Hunt

246 – La Continence de Scipio

247 – A princess offers a sacrifice in presence of Neptune

248 – A queen totally nude falls before soldiers who came to murder an old man in his bed (!)

Delaune, trained as a goldsmith, was the pre-eminent master of the 16th Century French Renaissance school of ornamental and architectural engraving. His earliest work was done in metal as an employee of the mint; in his middle and later years he focused more on small format printmaking, especially on mythological or Old Testament subjects done in series, such as this one.

Here are enlarged illustrations of the last two prints listed above, i.e., 248 – A queen totally nude falls before soldiers who came to murder an old man in his bed, and 247, A princess offers a sacrifice in the presence of Neptune: