Costumes de l'Epoque de Louis XVI

Very good copy of Compte-Calix's suite of fashion plates of the era of Louis XVI and Marie Antionette

Complete with all 15 very finely handcoloured fashion plates, 11 belles and four dandies

The women dressed in baroque bonnets with plumes, gowns richly adorned with frills, ribbons, fur and lace. The gentlemen in wigs, riding coats, waistcoats and breeches.

All the plates drawn by Francois Claudius Compte-Calix, an artist who worked for the weekly fashion magazine Modes Parisiennes

Finely engraved on steel by E. Bracquet, A. Carrache, Paul Lacourriere and Paquin and very finely hand-coloured

François-Claudius Compte-Calix (1813–1880) was a French genre painter and fashion illustrator. He first exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1840, and later in the International Exhibition at Paris in 1867. He provided fashion plates for the weekly fashion magazine Modes Parisiennes in the 1850s and 1860s, and also illustrated many albums of historical and regional fashions in special suites also published by the magazine entitled Musée de Costumes (Costume Museum) 1850, Directoire (Directory) 1851, Cour de France depuis Charles VII jusqu'a nos jours (French Court of Charles VII to our Times) 1861, Travestissements Elégants (Fancy Dress) 1864, L'époque de Luis XVI (Era of Louis XVI) 1869, etc.

Blue wraps chipped and rubbed with some paper loss on spine, all plates under tissue guards, some slight spotting to a few, but all with vibrant handcolour.