Bibliothèque Royale Albert 1er (Brussels), Cabinet des Estampes
Mauquoy-Hendrickx (Marie), born 1906

Three parts in four volumes (26 cm), I (1978): xxxviii (2), 162 (4) pp., illustration nos. 1-827. “Abréviations spéciales et signes conventionnels” loosely inserted (also in following vols.). II (1979): xxii (2), pp.163-343 (3), illustration nos. 828-1739. Addendum loosely inserted. III/1 (1982): xxiv (2), pp.345-511 (3), illustrations 1741-2333. III/2 (1983): (4) pp.513-691 (3) pp. Publisher’s pictorial wrappers. - The three Wierix brothers were the most famous engravers working in Antwerp between 1570 and 1620, responsible for a huge corpus of prints, including book illustrations for Plantin. In 1932 the Cabinet des Estampes of the Bibliothèque royale de Belgique obtained from the Joseph Havenith collection more than 500 prints of the Wierix brothers. At the time of their acquisition, Mauquoy-Hendrickx was a librarian in the Bibliothèque royale; in 1949, she was appointed adjunct curator of the Cabinet des Estampes, and in 1960 she became curator in succession to Louis Lebeer. During these years and after her retirement in 1971, Mauquoy-Hendrickx studied the Wierix prints in more than 100 collections, painstakingly identifying states, variants, and copies. The results of her research are presented here. “It is a work which it would be difficult to over praise… I have little hesitation in calling this the finest catalogue of old master prints produced since the Second World War” (from a review by Antony Griffiths, in The Burlington Magazine, volume 126, 1984, pp.702-703). ¶ Slight shelfwear. Fine copies.