In Original Engraving With A Drawing By Cassas Louise Francoise From The Nineteenth Century

Original engraving from the "Picturesque and historical journey of Istrie and Dalmatia" in copper after a drawing by Cassas Louis Françoise printed in Paris in 1802 LOUIS-FRANÇOIS CASSAS (JUNE 3, 1756 - NOVEMBER 1, 1827) WAS AN ILLUSTRATED LANDSCAPE, FRENCH SCULPTOR, ARCHITECT, ARCHAEOLOGIST AND ANTIQUAIRE BORN IN AZAY-LE-FERRON, IN THE DEPARTMENT OF FRENCH INDRE. HIS FATHER WAS A CRAFTSMAN AT THE BRIDGES AND CHAUSSÉS OFFICE, AND CASSAS FOLLOWS HIM AS A DRAWING LEARNER WHEN HE IS ONLY FIFTEEN. As godson of the Marquis Louis-François de Gallifet, owner of the Château d'Azay-le-Ferron, where Cassas was born, his artistic training is very eclectic. He studied in Tours and Paris before going to Rome. His teachers included Joseph-Marie Vien (1716-1809), neoclassical painter and teacher of Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825), Louis Jean François Lagrenée the younger (1739-1821), as well as roccoco painters such as Jean-Baptiste The Prince (1734–1781). In 1778 Cassas went to Rome, Venice, Naples and Sicily where he spent the first years of his youth studying ancient monuments. An order from "a society of fine art lovers" in 1782 brought him from Istria to southern Dalmatia, to produce a series of illustrations of antiques from the eastern Adriatic coast. These drawings were later published as engravings and reproduced in 69 copperplate prints in his two-volume book A Picturesque and Historical Voyage of Istria and Damatie, published in Paris in 1802. The original watercolors can be found at Victoria and Albert Museum in London.