La vie des peintres flamands, allemands et hollandois : avec des portraits gravés en taille-douche, une indication de leurs principaux ouvrages, & des réflexions sur leurs différentes manieres
Jean-Baptiste Descamps's four-volume biographical dictionary of Flemish, German and Dutch painters, published in Paris by Charles-Antoine Jombert from 1753 with copperplate portraits engraved by Etienne Ficquet and others, aimed at collectors and connoisseurs. Each plate sets an oval bust portrait in a carved cartouche flanked by draped curtains, easels, studio scenes and small landscapes, offering ready-made frames, hatched backgrounds and period costume heads.
