First edition, oversized folio, title page printed in red and black with large engraved vignette, portrait of Carracci opposite the title; half-title present; illustrated with a series of sixty-one large engraved vignettes, along with forty engravings on thirty-three numbered plates (of which eleven are folding); illustrations of Carracci's paintings engraved by Carlo Cesio (1626-1686); bound in half calf with orange paper-covered boards, edges untrimmed; some staining and discoloration to gutters; 17 1/4 x 12 1/4 in.
The paintings reproduced in this volume are those adorning the ceilings in what is now called the Carracci Gallery at the Palazzo Farnese in Rome commissioned by Alessandro Farnese (1468-1549), later Pope Paul III, ostensibly in honor of his niece's nuptials. "The important cycle of frescoes, trompe-l'oeil, and architectural framework known as quadratura that make up the barrel-vaulted ceiling of the gallery depict the 'Loves of the Gods,' a sophisticated dialogue between the theme of love and allegorical subjects from antiquity." (Quoted from https://www.wmf.org/project/carracci-gallery-palazzo-farnese)
