VI. Triumphant baroque

Frederik Van Marselaer. Legatus... – Anvers: Officina Plantiniana (Balthasar I Moretus), 1626. In-4.

The author – a town magistrate in Brussels –had selected the draughtsman Theodore van Loon of Louvain to create the frontispiece, introducing the new edition of his work on ambassies and the function of an ambassador. But Balthasar Moretus i, fastidious about the title’s typographic layout and displeased by the result of too little space, he instead imposed his preference of engraver. Once more, he designated Cornelis Galle i, who made the publisher’s desired changes to restore balance to the whole. Their correspondence is a witness to this: at the request of Moretus, Galle was also able to soften the drawing’s final rendering in the engraving, as seen in the printed proofs with which to judge the relevance of his proposals. Moretus, who pushed attention to detail to the point of discussing even the quality of copper plates to engrave, intended to maintain – at all stages of the project – the final word.

Mazarine: 4° 14553