Le opere corporali di Misericordia.: Complete suite of seven engravings depicting the seven corporal works of Mercy

7 sheets, etched and engraved; titles in Latin and Spanish to bottom margins, numbered in Roman numerals to left of bottom margins; some stains throughout, plate number IV marginally foxed, plate number VI with a restored rip starting from bottom white margin affecting plate; evenly slightly browned.

Complete suite of seven engravings depicting the seven corporal works of Mercy: I visiting the sick; II feeding the hungry; III quenching the thirsty; IV dressing the naked; V giving asylum to the pilgrims; VI taking care of the prisoners; VII burying the dead.

It was Giorgio Marini who assigned the work to the hand of Volpato who executed it for Remondini in 1768. In the Remondini Catalogue the series is part of the vast assortment of "Royal Folio Prints", the double title in Latin and Spanish declares that it was intended for export to Spain and the Spanish colonies, for educational purposes.

Giovanni Volpato was an Italian engraver (Bassano del Grappa 1740 - Rome 1803). Formed in the environment of Remondini, drew the first engravings from works by Piazzetta, Amigoni, Zucchi, signing Jean Renard. He was then called by Bartolozzi to Venice in 1762, where he worked on the tables of Paesti quod Poseidoniam etiam dixere rudera (Rome, 1784). He settled in Rome, where he engraved, among other things, from Raphael the Vatican Rooms and Lodges (1774-76) and illustrated the Schola italica picturae (London 1773) by G. Hamilton. In 1786 he opened a porcelain factory (directed by his son Giuseppe) and published, in collaboration with R. Morghen and C. Angelini, Principles of drawing from the most excellent ancient statues. Canova, his friend, erected him a cenotaph (Rome, SS. Apostoli).

The Remondini Press or Remondiniana was founded by Giovanni Antonio (Padua 1634 - Bassano 1711), former merchant in Bassano of silk, iron and drugs. He began by drawing crude sacred images from carved wood. His first dated book is the Sublimated Humilty (1661). There followed an intensive production of devotional booklets and folk narratives of low cost and poor quality.

A fundamental milestone of the house was the printing of the Latin Vocabulary by C. Calderini (1670), profitable for over forty years. For the chalcographic activity Remondini, after having made use of purchase material, had its first personal engravers, among whch we remember the nun Isabella Piccini, who collaborated with him for fifty years.

Marini, 84-90; Zotti/Minnici, 253-259.