Striking 18th century antique print. Gualtieri Nautilus Shells c1748

by Gualtieri, Niccolo

Hand-colored Nautilus Shells engraving from Index Testarum Conchyliorum quae adservantur in Museo Niccoli Gualtieri (List of Shells in the Museum of Nicolai Gualtieri) by Niccolo Gualtieri. First published in Florence, Italy in 1742, this engraving is from the second edition of 1748.
(On the reverse is a black and white cross-section engraving of the Nautilus shell - with text in Latin.)

Marine life were illustrated in family groups, artistically arranged, with shells standing on end and casting shadows. The shell illustrations combine scientific observation with aesthetic appreciation of the natural colors, textures, and shapes of the shells. The draughtsmen of the superb arrangements of seashell specimens from Gualtieri's shell collection for this series of engravings were painter, draughtsman and engraver Giuseppe Menabuoni (1708-1745) and painter-engraver Giovanni Domenico Campiglia (1692-1768). The engravers of the fabulous illustrations of Gualtieri's shell collection were Italian painter, printmaker, 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).

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 (shells). Gualtieri's collection of molluscs, and the system he devised for their classification, were praised by eminent zoologists, including Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Carl Linnaeus.

Page size is 440 x 300mm (17.1/2 x 11.3/4 inches). Size to plate mark is 37 x 24cm (14.5 x 9.5 inches).