Antique Print of Painters and Figures by Blome (1686)

Description: Antique print titled 'Painting'. Rare antique print showing painters and various figures including: a female figure holding palette and brushes in centre, with another female figure holding a painting before her; beside her to the left, male figure holding compass, with sketches and geometrical instruments on ground beside him; centre right, three female figures, with mirror, triangle, and trumpet; centre left, busts of female and male heads; upper left, eagle with wreath in its mouth, above which, Pan with pipes, and a female with five breasts lactating onto the male and female painters below; upper right, Zeus with thunderbolt, Hercules with club and lion pelt, and Minerva with snake; coat of arms in lower margin. This print originates from 'The Gentlemans Recreation'. 

Artists and Engravers: Published by Richard Blome. Richard Blome was among the most active publishers of cartographic and illustrated books in late 17th-century London . He was the first publisher in England for 40 years to prepare a new folio world atlas, the first in over 60 years to publish a new set of folio county maps, the first to seriously plan an illustrated description of London, and the first to plan a series of volumes related to the various world continents. In the 1680s, Blome issued some illustrated books, including The Gentleman's Recreation, The History of The Old Testament and a three-volume translation of the works of French philosopher Rene Descartes.