Mollusc Shells hand-coloured antique print. Gualtieri #20 c1742.

by Gualtieri, Niccolo

Gualtieri Conchology Plate 20. Elegant Molluscs Antique Engraving by Pietro Antonio Pazzi after Giuseppe Menabuoni for Index Testarum Conchyliorum quae adservantur in Museo Niccoli Gualtieri (List of Shells in the Museum of Nicolai Gualtieri) by Niccolo Gualtieri, published in Florence, Italy circa 1742. Groups of different families of marine life, were illustrated, arranged in rows against a white background, with some shells standing on end and casting small shadows. The shell illustrations combined scientific observation with aesthetic appreciation of the natural colors, textures, and shapes of the shells. 

The fine natural history engravers who contributed splendid copperplate engravings to illustrate specimens in Gualtieri's shell collection, were Italian painter, printmaker and Abbot, Pietro Antonio Pazzi (1706-1766), who studied with Cosimo Mogalli (1667-1730), Mogalli's daughter Teresa Mogalli (active artist from 1716 to 1760), and Bernardo Sansone Sgrilli (fl.1733-1755). Draughtsmen for these engravings were painter, draughtsman and engraver Giuseppe Menabuoni (1708-1745) and painter-engraver Giovanni Domenico Campiglia (1692-1768).  

Niccolo Gualtieri (1688-1744) was an Italian medical doctor and professor at the University of Pisa.  In 1716 Gualtieri co-founded the first European botanical society, the Botanical Society of Florence. His main passion was conchology, his collection of molluscs, and the system he devised for classification, were commended by eminent zoologists, including Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Carl Linnaeus.

Page size is 455 x 320mm (17.7/8 x 12.1/2 inches). Approximate measurements of plate mark: 370 x 240mm (14.1/2 x 9.1/2 inches).