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(HAMILTON, Lady Emma) REHBERG, Frederick.
Drawings faithfully copied from Nature at Naples
and with Permission dedicated To the Right Honourable Sir William Hamilton... by his most Humble Servant Frederick Rehberg, Historical Painter in his Prussian Majesty's Service at Rome. [Together with;] Outlines of Figures and Drapery collected with Great Care from Antient Statues, Monuments, Basreleivos [sic] &c....
A later impression collecting together Rehberg's record of Emma's famous "attitudes". Perhaps based on her experiences as the "living illustration" of Hygæa at Dr. Graham's infamous "Temple of Health", or perhaps developed as an exhibition of neo-classical culture for her husband, Sir William Hamilton, whatever the truth, the reputation of these postures spread Europe-wide, not least through the agency of Goethe who witnessed them on his trip to Italy in 1787; "After many years of devotion to the arts and the study of nature, to find the epitome of these delights in a young girl." The wonderfully self-referential frontispiece, the title page to the second part, shows Emma sketching herself as Agrippina using as a model the illustration from "Fores' Correct Costume..." - an alternate title for the present work - held out for her by a pair of winged putti.
Quarto. Engraved frontispiece, title page and two series of 12 engraved plates, the latter series with titles. Very good indeed in the publisher's navy blue pebble-grained cloth, title - "Lady Hamilton's Attitudes - Drawn from Nature" - gilt to the upper board.
