Harris Schrank Fine Prints

Israel Silvestre (1621-1691), View of the Palace and Gardens of Cardinal Ludovisi, etching, c. 1660 [with the title and address of Henriet in the margin below]. Printed on a cream laid paper, with a bunch of grapes watermark, in good condition, trimmed just outside or inside of the plate mark and outside of the borderline, 4 5/8 x 9 3/4 inches.

Silvestre was the nephew of the print dealer and publisher Israel Henriet, who often used the name Israel alone when listing himself as a publisher (as in this example). Henriet took his nephew in as an orphan, and Silvestre went on to become a leading etcher in the late 17th Century. Henriet was a friend of Jacque Callot, published much of his work, and in 1661 at his death left the plates to his nephew Silvestre (whose aesthetic debt to Callot is evident in plates such as this view.

The Villa Ludovisi in Rome was built in the 17th century by Domenichino for the Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi; the gardens, some of which are shown in this view, were made even more opulent and magnificent years later by the designer Andre Le Notre, the architect of the gardens of Versailles.

Detail