Perrier - Segmenta Nobilium Signorum et Statuarum - 1638

A BAROQUE ATLAS OF ROMAN SCULPTURE: THE HEROISM OF THE CLASSICAL FRAGMENT
Grande In Folio (42.5 x 31.7 cm)
Figurative eighteenth-century collection dedicated to ancient Roman sculpture, conceived as a visual monument against the destruction wrought by time. François Perrier’s engravings, inspired by the statues then visible in Roman collections and public places, translate classical archaeology into a cultivated and theatrical baroque language, suspended between antiquarian study, academic exercise, and moral meditation on mutability. The allegorical title page, among the most powerful of the century, clarifies the work’s purpose: to spare from ruin what time and neglect threaten to erase.
MARKET VALUE
Complete, well-bound copies of this collection are now rare on the market and generally command a high range, with valuations that rise significantly when the series of plates is complete and in fresh condition, typically between 2,000 and 5,000 euros. Incomplete copies or those with compromised bindings remain highly sought after for the quality of the engraving and the historical importance of the work, maintaining a solid value in the international market for old graphics and figurative antiquities.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Green editorial cardboard binding, solid block of plates. Plates 51–52 and 63–64 are missing, not rebound originally. Plates signed “FP.B.”. Manual pencil inscriptions under each engraving, consistent with the engraved index. Marginal tears, stains, and browning. As always with antique books, with a centuries-long history, there may be imperfections not always noted in the description. Pages (2); 102 leaves; (2).
FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Segmenta nobilium signorum et statuarum, quæ temporis dentem invidium evasere, urbis æternæ ruinis erepta, typis æneis ab se commissa perpetuæ venerationis monumentum.
Paris, at the widow of the late Perrier, 1638.
François Perrier.
CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
The Segmenta nobilium signorum represents one of the most important engraving enterprises devoted to classical sculpture in the 17th century. Perrier, trained in Rome and deeply influenced by the antique, selects celebrated statues and fragments then accessible, fixing them in an ideal form that often exceeds their actual state of preservation. The work situates itself in the tradition of the great Roman antiquarian collections, but it distinguishes itself by the plastic intensity of the figures and by the almost “heroic” framing of the ancient nude. The allegorical title page, with Time personified devouring the statues, clarifies the moral programme of the work: engraving as a tool for saving memory. The volume enjoyed wide success and profoundly influenced artists, academies, and collectors between the 17th and 18th centuries.
BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
François Perrier, called Le Bourguignon (1594–1649), was a French painter and engraver active in Rome and Paris. A pupil of the Roman classicist milieu, he absorbed deeply the lesson of the antique, which became the fulcrum of his graphic production. Returned to France, he contributed decisively to the diffusion of the classical taste, acting as a link between Roman archaeology and French artistic culture of the seventeenth century.
PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
The first issue is dated Rome 1638, with subsequent printings and Parisian reissues, some of which in different formats (also quarto). Brunet notes that the collection should comprise one hundred engravings, a number that varies depending on the issues and the binding. Complete copies are now rare; more common are incomplete or reassembled copies, a sign of intensive use and long circulation of the work.
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Brunet, Manuel du libraire, III, coll. 434–435.
ICCU / OPAC SBN, IT\ICCU\CFIE\006123.
BnF, Catalogue général, notice FRBNF 30555861.
Cicognara, Catalogo ragionato dei libri d’arte, no. 3754.
Hollstein, Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, s.v. Perrier.