Plates after the Old Masters

[English New Testament]. The New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. With Engravings on Wood from Designs of Fra Angelico, Pietro Perugino, Francesco Francia, Lorenzo di Credi, Fra Bartolommeo, Titian, Raphael, Gaudenzio Ferrari, Daniel di Volterra, and Others.
London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green, 1864. (31503)

Among the many nineteenth-century Bibles that reverted to old master models for the illustrations, this edition was one of the most ambitious. It combined sixty fine wood-engraved plates with ornamental borders and initials, all meant to evoke a Renaissance Bible. In the exhibited opening, the text of Matthew’s account of Christ’s Transfiguration is illustrated by a wood engraving after Raphael’s painting of this subject (1520). The original had been in the Spanish Royal collection since 1561, but was widely known from engraved reproductions. This elegantly bound copy of the New Testament is one of 250 deluxe copies that were printed as a special issue on paper with extra-large margins.

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Nineteenth Century
Plates after the Old Masters