Gamelin, Jacques

GAMELIN, Jacques (1738-1803). Nouveau recueil d'ostologie et de myologie, dessin d'aprs nature ... pour l'utilit des sciences et des arts. Toulouse: J.F. Desclassan, 1779.
2 parts in one volume, broadsheets (530 x 373 mm). 38 text leaves, including title-pages for each part and privilege leaf at end. 2 etched frontispieces, 2 etched title-vignettes, etched portrait of Baron de Puymaurin with a dedication by Gamelin below, 9 large etched vignettes in text, 82 etched and engraved plates, including 11 preceded by outline plates keyed to the text. (Washed.) Modern red morocco by Rene Aussourd, edges gilt (corners bumped). Provenance: Acquired from Lucien Goldschmidt, 1970.
FIRST EDITION. Although predominantly anatomical, the plates include a number of fantastic or macabre subjects, which are considered to prefigure Goya's Los Caprichos. Gamelin was born at Carcassonne and studied at Toulouse, Paris and Rome, where in 1771 he was admitted to the academy of St. Luke and became chief painter to Pope Clement XVI. He returned to Toulouse in 1774, where he published this work in 1779. It is dedicated to his patron, the Baron de Puymerin, the plates were designed by Gamelin himself. "The plates in this work are more fantastic than any other anatomy, suggesting the work of Goya, who may have known or studied with Gamelin since Gamelin taught in Rome during the time Goya was there" (Garrison-Morton). Although all the plates were designed by Gamelin and 18 bear his signature, most were executed by Jacques Lavalle (and a few by Martin). The illustrations in the first part, dealing with bones, are predominantly etchings or line-engravings or a combination of both.