 |
| Giovanni Battista Bracelli Bizzarie di varie figure 1624 Plate 33 (standing figures of S-shapes) etching British Museum |
The obscure Florentine etcher Giovanni Battista Bracelli (1584-1650) left behind him a scanty but eloquent record of one free-floating imagination operating productively in the 17th century.
"The set of fifty etchings was published by Bracelli himself in Livorno in 1624 with a dedication to Pietro Medici. Sets are excessively rare: the only complete one is in the Library of Congress (Rosenwald collection, whence the numbering of the plates is derived), and eight incomplete sets are listed by Alain Brieux ('Bracelli - Bizarrie', Paris 1963). The BM only has 32 of the plates, that were presented in two groups by [Campbell] Dodgson in 1910 and 1928. The series was 'rediscovered' by Tristan Tzara, and the first modern essay was published by Kenneth Clark . . ."
Рfrom British Museum curator's notes Р[updated information states that the unique 'complete set' of Bracelli plates from the Rosenwald collection said to be located at the Library of Congress is now actually housed at Washington's National Gallery of Art Рwhile an additional complete set is in fact preserved at the Biblioth̬que nationale in Paris]
 |
| Giovanni Battista Bracelli Bizzarie di varie figure 1624 Plate 43 (fighting figures of cubes and diamonds) etching British Museum |
 |
| Giovanni Battista Bracelli Bizzarie di varie figure 1624 Plate 23 (standing figures of diamond-shapes) etching British Museum |
 |
| Giovanni Battista Bracelli Bizzarie di varie figure 1624 Plate 39 (cubic figures leaning forward, front and rear views) etching British Museum |
 |
| Giovanni Battista Bracelli Bizzarie di varie figure 1624 Plate 6 (standing figures of icicles) etching British Museum |
 |
| Giovanni Battista Bracelli Bizzarie di varie figure 1624 Plate 22 (six cubic figures climbing on each other) etching British Museum |
 |
| Giovanni Battista Bracelli Bizzarie di varie figure 1624 Plate 36 (figure of dividers and figure of rectangles) etching British Museum |
 |
| Giovanni Battista Bracelli Bizzarie di varie figure 1624 Plate 20 (figure of sieves and figure of pipes) etching British Museum |
 |
| Giovanni Battista Bracelli Bizzarie di varie figure 1624 Plate 8 (armed figures) etching British Museum |
 |
| Giovanni Battista Bracelli Bizzarie di varie figure 1624 Plate 5 (figures composed of foliage) etching British Museum |
 |
| Giovanni Battista Bracelli Bizzarie di varie figure 1624 Plate 42 (figure of rectangles and figure of sieves) etching British Museum |
 |
| Giovanni Battista Bracelli Bizzarie di varie figure 1624 Plate 30 (figure of diamonds and figures of drawers) etching British Museum |
 |
| Giovanni Battista Bracelli Bizzarie di varie figure 1624 Plate 9 (standing figures of open rectangles) etching British Museum |
 |
| Giovanni Battista Bracelli Bizzarie di varie figure 1624 Plate 27 (galley composed of nudes) etching British Museum |
I am grateful to the British Museum for making these images available.