First and only edition of the earliest description of the outstanding Dutch and Flemish picture collection of the Amsterdam timber merchant Gerrit Braamcamp (1699-1771). The fine portrait of the collector which adorns the volume as a frontispiece is the only portrait known of him; it was etched after his painted portrait by Reinier Vinkeles which hung in his Amsterdam mansion, but is now lost. The portrait shows Braamcamp craddeling a piece of sculpture while in the background several of his paintings can be glimpsed, one a lascivious reclining nude The book is divided into two parts. The first is devoted to Bastide’s long poem celebrating the collection and its collector. Quite extraordinary, and to my mind the only time such a thing has been accomplished entirely in verse. The second part – catalogue raisonné de cabinet de Mr. Braamcamp (pp. [49]-118) - list 227 pictures in the collection, noting dimension, subject matter, master and each with a detailed note. The preface claims Braamcamp had assembled some six hundred pictures, which may well be an exaggeration; in any case the best are catalogued here (his sale catalogue of 1771 listed some 380 pictures). The preface gives an excellent introduction to the collecting habits of Braamcamp and also notes that he had indulged in his collection passion for thirty years. He was not only collecting pictures but also prints and drawings, sculpture, gold, silver and glass, porcelain and lacquerwork, ivories, clocks, and furniture. ‘In 1766 Braamcamp sold a number of lesser paintings, and six years later sold his drawings, most of which were Italian and Dutch. At the end of his life he decided to sell his entire collection but died shortly before the auction. After his death the collection was exhibited to the public for three weeks, before the sale on 31 July 1771. Catherine II of Russia purchased a number of his paintings, but all were lost at sea on the way to St Petersburg’ (Grove Art online). Frederick the Great also bought a number of pictures, indeed the sale was a tremendous success with the pictures dispersed throughout Europe. (Bogoslav Winner, cat. 4 (2016) # 10)
Le temple des arts ou le cabinet de M. Braamcamp