Letter from the engraver Giuseppe Longhi to the Viennese printer / publishers Artaria & Co.
Longhi, Giuseppe
* 1766 in Monza † 1831 in Milan
Manuscript in pen and brown ink. Size of sheet: 22.8 x 18.8 cm. One page with address verso
Important letter related to print publishing in the early 19th century from the engraver Giuseppe Longhi to the Viennese printer / publishers Artaria & Co., listing his expenses for sending them his engravings, including three Portraits of Michelangelo in 1822 (the print designed by Longhi, dates originally to 1815), twelve impressions of Delizie Materne, the portrait of Lady Burghersh with her son after Sir Thomas Lawrence (Bristol 1769-London 1830), in 1823.
Longhi also mentions that
he will begin engraving the Madonna del Lago (after Marco d’Oggiono’s
(c. 1467-1524) version of Leonardo’s Madonna del Lago (British Museum, inv. 1842,0806.258) the following
October, which he did indeed engrave in 1825.
"Al principio di X.bre prossimo incomincio la stampature del-/la Madonna del Lago d’appresso Leonardo da Vinci, ed al / momento della pubblicazione vi spedirò sollecitamente le / prove di una associazione. Stimo intanto opportuno mandarvi stralcio de’ pri [primi] conti.(...) Maturandomi molti pag.ti in questi giorni per gli adattamenti fat-/ti nella nuova mia casa, mi sarà caro, se vorrete farmi tenere / il saldo della d.ta partita, e vi saluto di cuore. G.pe Longhi"
Milano, 17 Ottobre 1824
(Illustration of detail only).
£ 1,800.-