Eighteenth century French vignettes and illustrations
This is a plate-style collection of eighteenth-century French book engravings, assembled from the Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection at the Library of Congress and issued in the twentieth century for students and collectors of illustrated books. The pages show small framed black-and-white vignettes and full illustrations, many with ornate garlands, drapery and putti framing scenes of courtly, pastoral and classical subjects. A designer could take from them the decorative logic of rococo framing, with curtains, swags and cartouches built around a central tableau, and the economical use of figures in interiors and woodland settings.
